Durham, N.H. ? Senior Michele Polizois recorded an assist on the game winner and scored a goal of her own to lead the UAlbany field hockey team to a 3-1 win over America East Conference rival New Hampshire on Sunday, Nov. 2. With the win, the Great Danes secured the regular season title and hosting rights for the conference tournament for the first time since joining the America East in 2001. The tournament will be held on Friday, Nov. 7 and Sunday, Nov. 9.

            New Hampshire struck first, as Kara Napolitano took an assist from Brittany Jacobs on a penalty corner less than five minutes into the game. Junior defender Jess Lindsey tied the game for UAlbany two minutes later on a penalty corner, collecting a rebound off Polizois' initial shot and pushing the ball past Wildcat goalkeeper Jenna Lehman. The Great Danes doubled the score at 9:54, as Polizois passed the ball from the top of the circle to Nicole Savage on the left wing, who found the back of the cage. Polizois sealed the win for UAlbany with an insurance goal just before halftime, converting a penalty corner with assists from Lindsey and Michelle Simpson.

            UAlbany (10-9, AE 4-1) outshot New Hampshire, 11-8, while the Wildcats held a 9-5 advantage in penalty corners. Senior goalkeeper Ashley Ross made one save in the cage for the Great Danes and Lehman recorded six saves between the pipes for New Hampshire.

New Hampshire (8-10, AE 3-2) goes into the tournament as the second seed, winning a tiebreaker over both Maine (6-9, AE 3-2) and Boston University (10-9, AE 3-2) based on total goals scored in conference games. A tiebreaker also had to be used to determine the three and four seeds, which the Black Bears won based on head-to-head play with the Terriers. Maine defeated Boston University earlier this season, 2-1.

Semifinal game times on Friday are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Albany, N.Y. The championship title game on Sunday will be played at 1 p.m. with an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship on the line.

-agate-

UAlbany (10-9, AE 4-1)              3          0          -           3

New Hampshire (8-10, AE 3-2)    1          0          -           1

UAlbany: Scoring ? Michele Polizois (1-1), Jess Lindsey (1-1), Nicole Savage (1-0), Michelle Simpson (0-1). Goalkeeper ? Ashley Ross (70:00, 1 GA, 1 save)

New Hampshire: Scoring ? Kara Napolitano (1-0), Brittany Jacobs (0-1). Goalkeeper ? Jenna Lehman (70:00, 3 GA, 6 saves).

2008 America East Field Hockey Championship
Friday, November 7 - semifinals
No. 4 Boston University at No. 1 Albany, 1, p.m.
No. 3 Maine vs. No. 2 New Hampshire, 4 p.m.

Sunday, November 9 - final
Boston University/Albany vs. Maine/New Hampshire, 1 p.m.

UAlbany 3, New Hampshire 1 (Nov 2, 2008)