BOSTON - For the third time in the last four years, the Hartford Hawks will host the America East Women's Soccer Championship title game, as the top-seeded Hawks beat Maine, 1-0, in the semifinal round on Sunday. Hartford will host second-seeded Albany after the Great Danes advanced with a, 2-1, overtime win over Vermont.
The 2015 America East Women's Soccer Championship title game will take place Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. at Hartford's Al-Marzook Field. The game will be streamed live for free on AmericaEast.TV. It is the second time in the last three years the top-two seeds will meet for the title.
No. 1 Hartford 1, No. 4 Maine 0
Box Score | Highlights
Hartford secured its second-straight trip to the America East women's soccer title game with a, 1-0, win over No. 4 Maine on Sunday afternoon in West Hartford, Conn. With the win, Hartford makes it 19-straight years in which the No. 1 seed has advanced to the title game.
Elise Galipo scored her first goal of the season in the 73rd minute which proved to be the game-winner for the Hawks. Hartford finished with a 14-2 advantage in shots.
The field tilted in favor of the Hawks throughout that first half, but the home team was unable to crack the scoreboard despite taking seven more shots than the Black Bears. Forcing Maine keeper Claudia Dube-Trempe into action in the 23rd and 40th minutes on attempts off the boots of freshman Julia Carrand senior Kylie Hoang, the Black Bears dodged a bullet right before the halftime break. With just three ticks left on the clock, junior Aaliyah Ingram rifled a shot off the far post to keep the match scoreless at intermission.
The Hawks continued to attack in the second half, as they held a 6-1 advantage in shots during that stretch. After a shot from nine yards out from Ingram went wide, Hartford came inches away from breaking open the game as Sidney Spremullo drilled a shot from inside of the 18 off the crossbar to keep the match scoreless.
Not long after, Galipo, who set up the pass that led to Spremullo's near miss, put the Hawks on the scoreboard with her first goal of the season. Splitting two defenders on the left side, Galipo lofted a beautiful shot into the upper right quadrant to put her team in front by a 1-0 count at the 72:16 mark.
The win gave Hartford head coach John Natale his 103rd of his career with the Hawks, tying him for the most in program history. Hartford will host Albany in the America East title game at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 8.
No. 2 Albany 2, No. 3 Vermont 1 (OT)
Box Score | Highlights
Albany will make its second appearance in the America East women's soccer title game after beating Vermont, 2-1, in an overtime thriller in Albany, N.Y., on Sunday evening. Albany will head to Hartford on Sunday, Nov. 8, for the America East final.
Kiana Rugar scored the game-winning goal in overtime off a pass from Mariah Williams to send Albany to its first title game since 2011. It was the fifth goal of the season for Rugar.
Neither team scored in the first half. Both keepers were challenged with just one shot on net during the first 45 minutes. Vermont's Ally Ramos, who made three stops in the contest, kept the game scoreless late in the first half when she robbed Vivian Vega by punching a shot away.
The game remained scorless until midway through the second half when both teams struck within three minutes of each other.
Vermont started the scoring as Savana Yurick fed a perfect thru-ball to Nikki McFarland who beat Albany keeper Alana Olivieri with a low shot to her left in the 67th minute, making it 1-0 Catamounts.
Albany evened the score just moments later. Krista Fitzpatrick's free kick was flicked on by Caitlyn Paltsios and then finished by Alexa Schneider to even the score in the 70th minute.
The game remained tied at one apiece in part thanks to Olivieri who was outstanding in net, making six saves for the Great Danes, including an incredible stop with less than 30 seconds to go in regulation to send the game to overtime.
It was less than seven minutes into the overtime period that Albany struck for the game-winner. Williams dribbled the ball down the left side and fed the ball across the box to Rugar who finished with a shot that was tipped by Ramos and found its way across the goal line. It is the second-straight year that Albany has won a game in the tournament.