ALBANY, N.Y. – The two top seeds in the 2015 America East Field Hockey Championship held serve on Thursday and advanced to Saturday’s semifinals. The #1 seed in the East, Albany ousted West #4 seed UC Davis, 7-1, while the #1 seed from the West, Stanford, fought back from a second-half deficit for a 5-2 win over East #4 seed Vermont.
America East Field Hockey Championship Quarterfinals
#E1 Albany 7, #W4 UC Davis 1 - Box Score
- Albany (17-2) set a single-game tournament record, scoring seven times in a 7-1 win over UC Davis (8-12 ) in the quarterfinals of the America East Field Hockey Championship Thursday.
- Paula Heuser, the conference’s Midfielder of the Year for the third straight year, scored four times, a single-game championship record.
- The Great Danes dominated play from the start but Aggie goalkeeper Erica Cohen, who had 12 saves in the game, stopped the first eight shots she faced.
- Albany’s offense broke through prior to halftime, scoring four times in the final 9:32 of the period.
- Heuser tallied the first of her four goals in the 26th minute, beating three defenders and putting the ball in the left side of the cage.
- Fiori Van Rijwijk, a second-team All-Conference selection, made it 2-0 for Albany just 1:12 later, converting a penalty corner off a feed from Frederike Helmke.
- Heuser scored twice more before halftime, putting back two rebounds in the 31st and 34th minute, to give Albany, the East Division co-champions, a 4-0 lead heading into the break.
- UC Davis scored its lone goal 2:25 into the second half as Kayla WIgney took a feed from Agustina Singh and found the back of the cage.
- The Great Danes score three unanswered goals to end the game: Anna Bottino (’48), Heuser (’52) and Rachel Billig (’56).
- Albany outshot UC Davis, 29-4, and had 15 penalty corners to the Aggies’ two.
- Albany, winner of eight games in a row, will face the winner of tomorrow’s quarterfinal match between West #2 seed Pacific and East #3 seed New Hampshire in the first semifinal on Saturday at 12 p.m.
#W1 Stanford 5, #E4 Vermont 2 - Box Score
- Stanford (13-5) scored four unanswered goals over the game’s final 20 minutes to overcome a second-half deficit and record a 5-2 win over Vermont (4-16) in the quarterfinals of the America East Field Hockey Championship Thursday.
- Maddie Secco, the America East Offensive Player of the Year, scored a pair of goals and added an assist for the Cardinal.
- The game was scoreless until late in the first half before Stanford’s Caroline Beaudoin broke the scoreless tie with a score in the 30th minute.
- Vermont, which was making its first America East Championship appearance since 2007, evened the score before the break on Lauren Tucker’s seventh goal of the year.
- Tucker, an America East Second-Team All-Conference selection, converted a penalty corner 3:11 before halftime.
- The Catamounts took a 2-1 lead in the 47th minute when Landon Wilson converted a turnover into a goal.
- The Cardinal tied the game 3:37 later on Secco’s first goal off a feed from Katie Keyser.
- Clemence Couteau sent home a rebound in the 60th minute to give Stanford a 3-2 lead.
- Stanford added a pair of insurance tallies as Fran Tew sent home a penalty stroke and Maddie Secco scored off a penalty corner just 1:10 apart.
- The Cardinal outshot the Catamounts, 20-3, for the game.
- Stanford, winner of four straight games, will face the winner of tomorrow’s quarterfinal match between East #2 seed Maine and West #3 seed California in the second semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The tournament continues on Friday with West #2 seed Pacific facing East #3 seed New Hampshire at 2 p.m. and East #2 seed Maine taking on West #3 seed California at 4:30 p.m.