#AEMSOC Success Continues as Albany, UNH Advance to NCAA 2nd Round
For the second-straight year, a pair of #AEMSOC teams are heading to the second round of the NCAA tournament. New Hampshire and Albany both advanced out of the first round Thursday evening with the Wildcats beating Fairfield, 3-0, at home while the Great Danes played Maryland to a scoreless tie in College Park and then defeated the Terrapins in penalty kicks, 5-4, to advance.
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It is the sixth and seventh time since 2012 that an America East team has reached the tournament’s second round as well as the 14th and 15th time in the last 17 seasons.
New Hampshire, which picked up its first-ever NCAA win, will next play at #15 seed Dartmouth. The Wildcats beat the Big Green, 4-2, in the regular season.
Albany is in the second-round for the second-straight year and will attempt to reach the third round in consecutive seasons when it visits #10 seed Western Michigan.
Both second-round games are Sunday at 1 p.m.
America East teams have excelled in NCAA play in recent years going 5-3-3 (.591) since 2014 and have advanced seven teams to the second round since 2013. Last year, Vermont reached the second round and Albany reached the third round. In 2014, UMBC became the first America East team ever to reach the College Cup.
The conference finished the 2017 regular season with a conference RPI of 5 after finishing 3rd last year and only the ACC had 75 percent of its teams in the top 85 of the RPI as America East did.
About America East: The America East provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field.
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