CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For the first time since 2006, the University of Hartford is the America East women’s soccer regular-season champion and the No. 1 seed in the 2014 America East Women’s Soccer Championship, which begins with the quarterfinals on Thursday, October 30. The conference regular-season came to a close with four games on Sunday afternoon.
The Hawks finished 5-1-2 with 17 points in the regular-season, three points ahead of No. 2 seed UMBC (4-2-2, 14 pts). The Retrievers and the Hawks both earned first-round byes and will host semifinal games on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Joining No. 1 Hartford and No. 2 UMBC is No. 3 seed New Hampshire, which finished 4-2-2 with 14 points to tie the Retrievers in the standings, but lost in the head-to-head tiebreak with UMBC. The Wildcats will host No. 6 Binghamton (3-3-2, 11 pts.). Albany finished 3-2-3 with 12 points to take the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Maine (3-3-2, 11 pts.). Both quarterfinal games will be Thursday at 7 p.m. and will be available on AmericaEast.TV.
Hartford earned the No. 1 overall seed and regular-season title in thrilling fashion, securing a, 2-1, victory at Vermont on freshman Aaliyah Ingram’s game-winner in overtime. Heading into Sunday, the Hawks needed a win and a UMBC loss or tie, or a tie and a UMBC loss to take the No. 1 seed. It is the first regular-season title for the Hawks since 2006, which is also the last time Hartford won the America East tournament title.
The Retrievers finished with 14 points and tied for second with New Hampshire, but earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of the tiebreak. The two teams tied during the regular season, but UMBC beat top-seed Hartford while New Hampshire lost to the Hawks to give the Retrievers the edge using the second tiebreak criteria. It is the second-straight year the Retrievers have finished in the top-two of the conference.
The Wildcats secured a home game and the No. 3 seed with a, 1-0, victory over Stony Brook. The Wildcats’ Brooke Murphy found the back of the net in the 21st minute, and the UNH defense made the goal stand-up, sending the home team into the third seed while eliminating the Seawolves from the tournament. Stony Brook needed a win to qualify for the championship after Binghamton beat UMBC.
Albany and Maine finished in a, 1-1, draw on Sunday, which setup a match-up between the two squads again on Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Great Danes finished with 12 points to take the No. 4 seed, while Maine finished with 11 points. The Black Bears were tied with the Bearcats in the final standings and tied Binghamton during the regular-season. Maine won the tiebreak by virtue of a tie against No. 1 Hartford while the Bearcats dropped their contest with the Hawks.
Binghamton qualified for the America East Championship for the ninth time in 11 years after a dramatic, 1-0, overtime win at UMBC. Patricia Hanley scored with just seven minutes remaining in the second overtime to clinch the tournament spot for the Bearcats.
Visit America East’s Championship Central throughout the tournament for previews, links to in-game coverage and postgame reaction. The 2014 Championship Game will be available exclusively on AmericaEast.TV and produced by Pack Network.
2014 America East Women’s Soccer Championship
Quarterfinals - Thursday, October 30
No. 5 Maine at No. 4 Albany, 7 p.m.
No. 6 Binghamton at No. 3 New Hampshire, 7 p.m.
Semifinals - Sunday, November 2
Binghamton/New Hampshire winner at No. 2 UMBC, 1 pm
Maine/Albany winner at No. 1 Hartford, 2 p.m.
Final - Saturday, November 8 or Sunday, November 9
Semifinal Winners at Highest Remaining Seed, TBD