ALBANY, N.Y. – The #9 UAlbany field hockey team completed its year-opening homestand with a 3-0 start with a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth on the Alumni Turf on Saturday afternoon.
UAlbany (3-0) scored the first three goals of the contest in the first 41 minutes to earn the victory over Dartmouth (0-1). The Great Danes outshot Dartmouth 26-10 in the game.
“We are still, given that the season is young, building our trust and getting used to our style,” said UAlbany head coach Phil Sykes. “We set each other up well, but their goalie played great. We liked the offense we had.”
Paula Heuser scored a goal in the sixth minute to eclipse the 200-point mark in her collegiate career, standing with 201 after the game. Anna Bottino scored later on an unassisted breakaway with Jaclyn Hibbs adding the third off a penalty corner. Maxi Primus earned the victory in goal, saving eight of nine shots on the cage, including all seven first half Dartmouth shots.
“Dartmouth was fired up for their first game, but our energy was good, we were patient and we executed well,” said Heuser. “Maxi [Primus] played awesome today, and we made good passes to each other.”
For Dartmouth, Carmen Braceras scored the team's goal in the 45th minute. Hailey Valerio got the loss with eight saves and three goals allowed in the opening 54:30, with Emma Plumb ending with five saves in the rest of the contest.
Molly Mariano set up Heuser just as the sixth minute expired with a pass to her. Heuser broke past her defender and fired a shot inside the left post for the score to put UAlbany ahead 1-0. Heuser nearly added a second on a ninth minute penalty corner from Kelsey Briddell, missing just right.
UAlbany kept peppering the goal, with Bottino and Alyssa Curtis each getting shots five seconds apart, but neither connecting. Emily Fraser got a chance in the 18th minute, with Valerio making the save.
Primus held strong off Dartmouth pressure as a saved Jocelyn Wulf shot went to Joanne Nazareth for a second attempt, with the senior making another save. The ball stayed in Dartmouth's half-circle as Heather Zezzo made an attempt, with Primus saving again.
Minutes later, Dartmouth picked up three penalty corners in a span of 70 seconds. Primus stopped shots from Nazareth and Morgan Philie to hold again. Primus saved all seven of Dartmouth's first half shots.
A little after a missed Dana Bozek shot in the waning minutes of the first, Bottino got possession and broke away from a defender with speed, scoring on a right-to-left shot to send UAlbany up 2-0 at the break.
A 41st minute penalty corner for UAlbany saw Briddell pass to Frederike Helmke, who passed over to Hibbs. Hibbs's swing found the back of the cage close range as UAlbany took a 3-0 lead.
UAlbany's shutout attempt ended in the 45th as Spanos passed ahead to Braceras for a rocket shot and score to make it 3-1 UAlbany.
UAlbany kept the attack going with another Bottino shot getting past the goal, but Maddie Donahue stopped the shot in front of the cage for the defensive save. Bozek tried another attempt shortly thereafter, but Valerio made the stop.
UAlbany had four more shots on penalty corner, including two from Heuser, but newly entered keeper Plumb saved all four. But the UAlbany defense did give up another shot the rest of the game and took the victory 3-1.
The Great Danes have a quick turnaround, heading to the campus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania to play #18 Penn State tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. UAlbany and Penn State both enter Sunday's contest at 3-0 on the year.
