Albany, N.Y. - Junior Christina Patrick scored an unassisted goal in the 42nd minute to lead  No. 15 UAlbany to a 2-1 win over Rider in an NCAA Field Hockey play-in game on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Turf Field. The Great Danes, who will make their second NCAA Division I Tournament appearance, improved to 16-5 on the season.  UAlbany's place in the NCAA bracket will be announced this evening.

            UAlbany struck first, as Chelsea Neff netted an unassisted tally at 8:56. In a flurry of Great Danes' shots and saves by Rider goalkeeper Rebecca Lotito, Neff collected a rebound and lifted the ball over Lotito's pads to find the back of the cage. The Broncs tied the game at 1-1 before the halftime break. Megan Pisani tipped in a rebound just before 20 minutes had elapsed in the first half to put Rider on the scoreboard.

            Coming out of halftime, UAlbany put on the offensive pressure. Patrick pulled ahead of the Rider defense with a breakaway towards the goal. As she came into the left side of the circle, she drove the ball towards the cage, where it slipped past Lotito into the lower right corner. The Great Danes' strong defense held for the remainder of the game to secure the UAlbany victory.

            "We have to make sure we bring our 'A'-game to the NCAA Tournament," said Patrick, who leads the Great Danes with 15 goals and is the league leader with six game-winners. "It's even more exciting to go back to the tournament a second time. We are ready to play with everything we have and we know we can play with any team in the tournament."

            The teams both recorded seven shots apiece, while UAlbany held a slight 2-1 advantage in penalty corners. UAlbany goalkeepers Christine Hoffman and Kristi Troch split time in the cage, with Hoffman making three saves for the Great Danes. Lotito stopped two UAlbany shots for Rider (16-4) in the net.

            "It's a huge win for us," said UAlbany head coach Phil Sykes, who has guided the Great Danes to a Division I record 16 wins this season. "Practice essentially meant nothing. It was more of a situation where we needed to find a way to get that emotional high back. When we came out in the second half, we got that emotion back and found a way to win the game."

            UAlbany awaits its NCAA Tournament destination, as the field will be released on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. The live selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com.

Paw Prints: UAlbany was ranked 15th in the Kookaburra/NFHCA Division I National Coaches' Poll for the second straight week, as announced by the organization on Tuesday... The Great Danes, who have been ranked every week of the regular season, also advances to the NCAAs in 2008 ... UAlbany was one of three programs to win NCAA play-in games on Tuesday... Stanford, the NorPac champion, edged Massachusetts, 2-1, and American, the Patriot League champion, defeated Kent State by an identical score... UAlbany is one win short of the school's all-time single-season record, as the 1997 team won 17 games at the Division II level ... the Great Danes have won 10 or more games for the fifth consecutive season ... Christina Patrick is second on the program's single-season Division I goals and points chart, as Angie Stegel had 16 goals and 39 points in 2000.

-agate-

Rider (16-4)                   1          0          -           1

#15 UAlbany (16-5)        1          1          -           2

            Rider: Scoring - Megan Pisani (1-0). Goalkeeper - Rebecca Lotito (70:00, 2 GA, 2 saves).

            UAlbany: Scoring - Chelsea Neff (1-0), Christina Patrick (1-0). Goalkeepers - Christine Hoffman (35:00, 1 GA, 3 saves); Kristi Troch (35:00, 0 GA, 0 saves).

UAlbany 2, Rider 1 (Nov 09, 2010)