ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany field hockey team is set to take on America East Regular Season Champions, Maine, for the 2021 America East Championship title.
 
Masks are required for all fans not fully vaccinated. Masks will be required for all fans inside all campus buildings, including stadium bathrooms.
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
America East Championships
UAlbany at #25 Maine
DATE: Sunday, November 7
SITE: UMaine Field Hockey Complex - Orono, Maine
RECORDS: UAlbany 11-8, 6-2 America East; Maine 14-6, 7-1 America East
SERIES RECORD: 18014, UAlbany leads
STREAM: ESPN+
STATS: GoBlackBears.com
 
GREAT DANE REWIND

• The Great Danes opened the season with a 5-1 win over Colgate (8/27) before falling 2-1 against Fairfield (8/29).
• UAlbany beat Wagner (9/3), 4-1, for its first road game of the season but followed it up with three losses to UMass (9/5), No. 9 Penn State (9/10), and Columbia (9/12). During the final weekend of pre-conference games, the Great Danes earned a victory over Cornell (9/17) and a loss against No. 1 Michigan (9/18).
• To open America East play, UAlbany bested Vermont in a 3-2 overtime win on September 26.
• The Great Danes won three-straight conference teams in one-goal games - Stanford (10/8), New Hampshire (10/10), and UMass Lowell (10/15) - before falling to Monmouth (10/22).
• UAlbany closed the regular season beating UC Davis (10/29), 5-4, and California (10/31), 2-1, in overtime.
• Senior Robyn Murray scored the first goal of the season on August 27.
• Most recently, the Great Danes upset second-seeded Monmouth (11/5), 1-0, to earn a bid to the America East Championship game. UAlbany also beat Stanford (11/4), 1-0, to make it to the semifinals.
• Freshman Alison Smisdom leads the team with 36 points from 16 goals and four assists. The freshman scored her first career hat trick at Wagner before tallying a second one against California.
• Sophomore Lara Mortz and freshman Floor de Ruiter follow with 11 points each. Mortz has tallied three goals and five assists while de Ruiter has totaled four goals and three assists, including the lone goal in the America East quarterfinal win.
• Freshman Blanca Orsola scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Monmouth to lead the team to the America East Championships.
• Half of the field players (nine student-athletes) have contributed at least one point, with eight different goal scorers.
• In net, freshman Lara Behn leads the goalies with a .708 save percentage and a 1.74 goals against average in 898:55.
• The Great Danes have totaled 35 goals from 237 shots and 130 penalty corners in 19 games.

 
2021 GREATS

• Freshman Alison Smisdom has tallied one Division I weekly award, four America East weekly awards, and two UAlbany Athlete of the Week honors.
  • After earning her first career hat trick (at Wagner, 9/3), Smisdom was named the America East Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week as well as the UAlbany Female Athlete of the Week.
  • The first year earned her second conference Rookie of the Week award after scoring one game-winning goal, in overtime, and assisting the game-tying goal at Vermont (9/26).
  • The rookie's most recent weekend saw five goals in two games. Scoring her second career hat trick against UC Davis (10/29) and tallying both goals in a 2-1 overtime win against California (10/31), Smisdom was named the NFHCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week, America East Offensive Player of the Week, America East Rookie of the Week, and UAlbany Female Athlete of the Week.
• Freshman Floor de Ruiter tallied her first America East Rookie of the Week honor after scoring the game-winning goal against Stanford (10/8) with the game-tying goal against New Hampshire (10/10)
• Most recently, sophomore Lara Mortz was named the UAlbany Female Athlete of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal against UMass Lowell (10/15).

 
POSTSEASON SUCCESS

• The America East All-Conference awards were announced with four Great Danes being honored.
  • Freshman Alison Smisdom was named the Rookie of the Year as well as earning a spot on the First Team and the All-Rookie Team
  • Junior Julie Rodijk notched a spot on the Second Team.
  • Lara Behn and Floor de Ruiter rounded out the UAlbany honors with All-Rookie nods.

 
ABOUT MAINE

• Ranked 25th in NFHCA poll, the Black Bears are 14-6 on the season after finishing 7-1 in the America East.
• Maine opened the season with three straight losses - No. 7 Boston College (8/28), UMass (8/29), and No. 19 Harvard (9/3) - before beating Providence College, 2-1 (9/5).
• The Black Bears fell against No. 23 Kent State (9/11) and No. 5 Northwestern (9/12) before winning their next eight contests - Merrimack (9/17), Northeastern (9/19), No. 20 Monmouth (9/24), Stanford (9/26), UAlbany (10/1), Boston U. (10/3), California (10/8), and UC Davis (10/10). 
• Their only conference loss came against Vermont (10/15) but Maine came back to win the final four games in the regular season - Bryant (10/17), UMass Lowell (10/22), Dartmouth (10/24), and New Hampshire (10/31). 
• Hosting the America East tournament and finishing first in the conference, the Black Bears earned a bye to the semifinals, where they beat California, 2-1, on November 5.
• Poppy Lambert leads the team with 28 points from 14 goals.
• Madisyn Hartley leads the team in assists, tallying 11 in 20 games. 
• Senior Mia Borely totals 1176:12 in goal with a .701 save percentage and 1.79 goals against average.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE BLACK BEARS

• UAlbany holds an 18-14 lead over Maine in the all-time series.
• Most recently, the Black Bears defeated the Great Danes, 2-1, on October 1. 
• Their 2020-21 meeting resulted in a 2-1 loss in Orono, Maine in the spring of 2021. Former Great Dane Katie MacCallum scored the lone goal unassisted.
• UAlbany last beat the Black Bears in 2018 for the America East Championship title. Current senior, Elaina Burchell, scored one of the Great Danes' goals to win the 2018 title on November 4.

 
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• Maine (#1) and Monmouth (#2) finished the season with their respective conference rankings to earn a bye to the semifinals of the America East Tournament.
• UAlbany finished third and will play sixth-seeded Stanford in the quarterfinals on Thursday, November 4.
• California (fourth seed) and New Hampshire (fifth seed) will open the tournament with the first quarterfinal game on Thursday, November 4.
• Vermont (seventh), UMass Lowell (eighth), and UC Davis (ninth) did not make the tournament and closed the season in their final regular season standings.

 
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEKEND
Thursday

• #4 California 2, #5 New Hampshire 1
• #3 UAlbany 1, #6 Stanford 0

Friday

• #1 Maine 2, #4 California 1
• #3 UAlbany 1, #2 Monmouth 0

Sunday

• #1 Maine vs, #3 UAlbany, 1 pm

For more information on the University at Albany field hockey team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanyfh
Instagram - @ualbanyfh
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyFH