ALBANY, N.Y. – The seeds and matchups for the new-look America East Field Hockey Championship are set following Sunday’s action. For the first time, four West Division schools will join four East Division schools to decide the eight-team tournament, which runs Nov. 5-8 at reigning conference champion, University at Albany.
Both divisions feature co-champions with Albany (16-2, 7-1 AE East) and Maine (17-3, 7-1 AE East) sharing the East Division crown and Stanford (12-5, 4-2 AE West) and Pacific (10-7, 4-2 AE West) splitting the West Division title.
The Great Danes, the eighth-ranked team in the country, earned the East’s #1 seed by virtue the conference’s tiebreak procedure after beating UMass Lowell, 9-3, Sunday behind a conference record 12 points (5G, 2A) from reigning national Player of the Year, Paula Heuser. The Black Bears, the No. 18 team in nation, earned the East’s #2 seed by beating New Hampshire, 3-2, Sunday and also tied their program record with their 17th victory. Third-seeded New Hampshire (8-10, 4-4 AE East) and fourth-seeded Vermont (4-15, 2-6 AE East) round out the East seeds.
Stanford, the nation’s 13th-ranked team, garnered the West’s #1 seed via the conference’s tiebreak procedure, after beating Pacific, 2-1, on Friday. The Tigers are seeded second after posting their most wins since 2006 and third-most in program history. Third-seeded California (9-9, 3-3 AE West) and fourth-seeded UC Davis (8-11, 1-5 AE West) finish out the West seeds.
The championship kicks off Thursday with cross-divisional quarterfinal action, which will be split over two days. Albany will face UC Davis in the first quarterfinal Thursday at 2 p.m. EST followed by Stanford vs. Vermont at 4:30 p.m. EST. On Friday, Pacific takes on New Hampshire at 2 p.m. EST and Maine faces California at 4:30 p.m. EST. The Albany-UC Davis winner will square off with the Pacific-New Hampshire winner in the first semifinal on Saturday at 12 p.m. EST while the Stanford-Vermont winner will battle the Maine-California winner in the second semifinal Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EST. Saturday’s winners will square off the 2015 America East title on Sunday at 12 p.m. EST.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be streamed for free at AmericaEast.TV and be available on computers, tablets and smartphones. For the first time in league history, the championship game will be shown live on ESPN3 and WatchESPN apps.
America East, with the third-best conference RPI in the nation, behind only the ACC and Big Ten, hopes its teams can replicate last year’s NCAA success following the tournament. In 2014, Albany became the conference’s third team to reach the Final Four, while Stanford posted a first round win before falling the quarterfinals.
Visit Championship Central throughout the championship for live coverage links and postgame recaps and reaction.
2015 America East Field Hockey Championship
At University at Albany
All Times Eastern Standard
Quarterfinals - Thursday, Nov. 5
Game 1 – #E1 Albany vs. #W4 UC Davis, 2 p.m.
Game 2 – #W1 Stanford vs. #E4 Vermont, 4:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals – Friday, Nov. 6
Game 3 – #W2 Pacific vs. #E3 New Hampshire, 2 p.m.
Game 4 – #E2 Maine vs. #W3 California, 4:30 p.m.
Semifinals – Saturday, Nov. 7
Game 5 – Game #1 Winner vs. Game #3 Winner, 12 p.m.
Game 6 – Game #2 Winner vs. Game #4 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Final – Sunday, Nov. 8
Game 7 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 12 p.m.