ALBANY, N.Y. – The 2024 America East Field Hockey Championship started with a high-scoring affair in the opener, but it was the defense which took center stage in the second contest as No. 3 Maine and No. Vermont advanced to Friday’s semifinals.
In the opener, No. 3 Maine made its seventh straight trip to the #AEFH Semifinals with a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 6 UC Davis. The fourth seeded Catamounts earned their first-ever #AEFH Championship victory, 2-0 over No. 5 UMass Lowell to advance.
On Friday, the Black Bears will face No. 2 seed New Hampshire at 11 a.m. The two teams played last weekend, with Maine earning a 2-0 victory. The second semifinal gets underway at 2 p.m. as top seed UAlbany hosts No. Vermont, who also played last weekend with the Great Danes winning 3-1. Both games will air on ESPN+.
Quarterfinal Recap
#3 Maine 4, #5 UC Davis 3
- After a scoreless first quarter, the Aggies grabbed a 1-0 lead one minute into the second on a Katie Kim goal.
- Maine’s Olivia Geniti responded just three minutes later to even the score 1-1. The Black Bears then pulled in front at 23:00 on a Micaela Grajales goal in front.
- Jamie Dempsey tied it up less than two minutes later on a beautiful individual effort to get by a defender and chip the ball over Jayde Temby into the net.
- At 32:27, Poppy Lambert provided a Maine a 3-2 lead on a penalty stroke, her 58th career goal and a new Maine all-time record.
- UC Davis didn’t go quietly and evened it 3-3 just four minutes later on Zoe Mohrman’s fourth of the season.
- In the fourth Kate Richardson provided the game-winner off a penalty corner as she redirected in a shot..
- Temby and Rozarie Mrazova combined to secure the win in net for Maine while Emma Giesting made 12 saves for the Aggies.
No. 4 Vermont 2, UMass Lowell 0
- It was another scoreless first quarter, though Vermont held a 5-2 edge in shots.
- With just 2:33 left in the half, Sophia Lefranc broke the scoreless draw with shot from a tough angle.
- In the third, Lefranc made it 2-0 as she redirected a shot from the top of the circle by Sophia Drees.
- From there the Vermont defense, led by the Drees, shut out UMass Lowell as the River Hawks managed just two shots in the entire second half.
- Merle Vaandrager finished with three saves to earn the shutout victory.
- Christina Calandra played the opening 30 minutes for UMass Lowell and made four saves but took the loss.
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 on X (Formerly Twitter) and Instagram to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEFH hashtags to join the conversation.
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