Stanford, UNH Win OT Thrillers in #AEFH Semis to Advance to Title Game
LOWELL, Mass. — For the first time ever, Stanford and New Hampshire will play for the America East field hockey title as both teams won overtime thrillers in the semifinals Saturday at UMass Lowell’s Wicked Blue Field to advance to Sunday’s championship game.
The Wildcats, the #3 seed from the East, beat East #1 seed Albany 2-1 in overtime in the first semifinal, while Stanford, the top seed from the west beat West #3 seed Pacific 3-2 in overtime in the nightcap.
In the UNH-Albany matchup, the Wildcats’ Katie Audino scored with just 58 seconds left in the first overtime period to send her team to its first America East championship game since 2014 and 11th in program history. Kayla Sliz put UNH up 1-0 7:23 into the game, but Albany’s Katie MacCallum tied it up 1-1 with 5:20 left in the half. Kelsey Rudert made nine saves in the cage for UNH.
In the Stanford-Pacific game, Marissa Cicione scored 10:49 into the first overtime to lead Stanford to the league title game for the second-straight year. Pacific jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by America East Offensive Player of the Year Kriekie van Wyk (26’) and Allie Muinos (49’), but the Cardinal scored twice in an eight-minute span to the game at 2-2. Kristina Bassi scored in the 50th minute and Frances Carstens tied it in the 58th minute.
Stanford and New Hampshire will play for the league title at 1 p.m. Sunday at UMass Lowell. The game will be streamed for free at AmeriaEast.TV. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Field Hockey championship.
Stay up-to-date on the tournament by visiting Championship Central for streaming and live stats links as well as box scores, highlights and recaps following each round in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
Follow @AmericaEast and @AEDigitalNet on Twitter to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEFH hashtags to join the conversation.
2017 America East Field Hockey Championship
At UMass Lowell; Lowell, Mass.
All Times Eastern
Quarterfinals - Thursday, Nov. 2
Game 1 – #E1 Albany 5, #W4 UC Davis 0
Game 2 – #W1 Stanford 5, #E4 UMass Lowell 1
Quarterfinals – Friday, Nov. 3
Game 3 – #E3 New Hampshire 3, #W2 California 2 (OT)
Game 4 – #W3 Pacific 3, #E2 Maine 2
Semifinals – Saturday, Nov. 4
Game 5 – #E3 New Hampshire 2, #E1 Albany 1 (OT)
Game 6 – #W1 Stanford 3, vs. #W3 Pacific 2 (OT)
Final – Sunday, Nov. 5
Game 7 – #W1 Stanford vs. #E3 New Hampshire, 1 p.m.
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