ALBANY, N.Y. - For the sixth time since 2009, the No. 2 and No. 5 seeds will play for the America East men's soccer title when No. 2 Albany hosts No. 5 Hartford Sunday afternoon at Casey Stadium. The game begins at 2:05 p.m. and will air on ESPN3 and AmericaEast.TV. Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Shawn Mecchi (analyst) will have the call.
Watch on ESPN3 | Live Stats
The winner of the Sunday's game will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship, where America East teams have advanced to the second round 11 of the last 15 years and UMBC reached the Final Four in 2014. Multiple America East teams are in position to earn at-large bids as the league has the third-best conference RPI in the country and posted a .679 non-conference winning percentage.
Championship Game Primer
- Albany (11-5-2) reached the championship game by beating Vermont, 2-0, in the semifinals Wednesday.
- Hartford (9-9-3) posted 2-1 victories over New Hampshire and Stony Brook in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively to reach the title game.
- This is the seventh time the No. 2 and No. 5 seeds have decided the America East men's soccer title and sixth time in the last eight years.
- The No. 2 vs. No. 5 matchup is the most frequent championship game pairing since the tournament expanded to six teams in 2003.
- No. 2 seeds are 3-0-3 vs. No. 5 seeds in the league final and have won the championship all six times.
- The Great Danes are making their first-ever championship game appearance while the Hawks are in the title game for the fourth time in the last six seasons and seventh time overall.
- Hartford is 3-3 all-time in title games, winning the title in its first three appearances (1991, '92, '99) and falling in the championship game in its last three showings (2011, '13, '14).
- This is the first time Albany and Hartford have ever met for the conference title.
- The two teams played to a scoreless tie in the regular season on Oct. 1.