ALBANY, N.Y. - For the fourth time in five seasons and fifth in the last seven, Albany and New Hampshire will decide the America East field hockey title as both teams earned semifinal wins Friday at Albany’s Virtue Field to advance to Saturday's championship game.
Albany, the tournament's top seed, got a pair of second-half goals from Paula Heuser to beat fourth-seeded Fairfield, 2-1, in the day's first semifinal while Meg Flately lifted second-seeded New Hampshire to a 4-2 win over third-seeded Maine by matching a tournament record with three goals in the second game of the day. The two teams will meet for the championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be video streamed live free of charge at AmericaEast.TV.
In the tournament’s opening game, Albany (17-2), the nation’s 14th-ranked team, dominated the stat sheet in the first half, registering 10 shots, including seven on cage. But, Fairfield’s sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Bennett stood tall, making seven of her 11 saves in the first-half.
The regular-season champion Great Danes, who have won 11-straight games, broke the scoreless tie 2:36 minutes into the second half. Taking advantage of a penalty corner, Paula Heuser, the conference’s Midfielder of the Year, delivered a blast from the top of the circle to put Albany up 1-0.
Fairfield (7-12) responded just six minutes later as America East Defensive Player of the Year Felicitas Heinen converted a penalty corner to even the game at one. But the Great Danes would take the lead back in the 55th minute as an intentional Fairfield foul in the circle resulted in a penalty stroke opportunity for the Great Danes. Heuser, the nation’s leading scorer with 63 points, buried the free shot in the left side of the cage to put her team up 2-1.
The Stags, who were making their third-straight championship appearance, nearly tied the game with 9:02 left as America East Offensive Player of the Year Ann Burgoyne broke in uncontested on Albany goaltender Maxi Primus. The America East Goalkeeper of the Year, Primus, came out of her cage to stuff Burgoyne and the Great Danes held on to advance to the championship game.
In the nightcap, New Hampshire and Maine combined for four scores in the first 12 minutes of the contest. The goal flurry, which came in a 4:02 span, was started by Maine’s Annabelle Hamilton, a first team all-leaguer. She got Maine (10-10) on the board first by burying a penalty stroke in the eighth minute.
New Hampshire (9-11), which will be making its fifth-straight title game appearance, tied the game just 1:38 later on Flatley’s first tally, which came off a rebound. The Black Bears wasted little time regaining their lead however, as Danielle Aviani scored just 21 seconds later to put her team up 2-1. Flately capped off the four-goal spurt at the 11:40 mark on a tip in, evening the score.
The two teams settled in defensively after the early going and the game remained 2-2 until Lindsey Nerbonne, who had two goals and two assists for UNH, scored nearly 11 minutes into the second half to give the Wildcats a one-goal advantage.
UNH would not look back and would add to their lead. Flatley scored again in the 57th mark, equaling the America East single-game tournament record with the hat trick that had been accomplished by three others previously. Nerbonne added her second tally of the game with just under five minutes left in the game.
Carlie Tarbell, a second-team all-conference choice this year, settled in in the cage for UNH stopping all three second-half shots she faced and six overall.
This will be the fifth time Albany and New Hampshire will play for the America East crown. The Great Danes have won three of the four meetings, but UNH won last year’s get together. Coverage for Saturday's game will begin at 12:55 p.m. on AmericaEast.TV.
Visit America East Championship Central for complete coverage of the tournament, including live video, postgame highlights and more, follow the conference on Twitter (@AmericaEast) for in-game updates and use #AEChamps to join the conversation all weekend long.
2014 America East Field Hockey Championship
All games at University at Albany’s Alumni Turf Field, Albany, N.Y.
Semifinals - Thursday, November 6
#1 Albany 2, #4 Fairfield 1
#2 New Hampshire 2, #3 Maine 5
Final - Saturday, November 8
Albany vs. New Hampshire, 1 p.m.