SCORE: UAlbany 4, Lehigh 0
LOCATION: Alumni Turf - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 11-5, 6-1 AE | Lehigh 9-7, 2-3 Patriot
SHORT STORY: Opening with two goals in the first quarter, the Great Danes secured a shutout victory on senior day, Sunday afternoon.
COACH PHIL SYKES: "Fantastic effort on senior day. Senior day is always an emotional and reflective day for our seniors. To come out and have such a good team effort - everybody contributed in such a good way - is always great for our seniors. We are going to miss Jannelle [Volk] and Charlotte [Triggs] a lot. They are such great people and great players. Overall, good effort going into our final conference game on Friday [October 27]."
KEY STATS
- Scoring two goals, Junior Isabella Del Vecchio led the way for the Great Danes.
- Fellow junior Floor de Ruiter and freshman Mara Küskes each tallied a goal.
- Junior Alison Smisdom recorded the only two assists for UAlbany.
- As a team, the Great Danes outshot the Mountain Hawks, 34-2, with a 21-0 advantage in shots on goal.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Just over two minutes into the contest, Mara Küskes cracked the scoreboard first by grabbing the ball from a rebounded shot before flicking it in for the goal.
- Later in the first quarter, Floor de Ruiter dribbled the ball into the circle, dodged several defenders, and sent the ball into the net with a reverse hit.
- After a scoreless second quarter, the two-person team of Isabella Del Vecchio and Alison Smisdom extended the lead with two goals in the second half.
- In a picture-perfect play, Smisdom passed the ball to Del Vecchio for a give-and-go goal just five minutes into the final half.
- In what proved to be the final goal of the contest, Smisdom drove the ball to the corner of the goal where Del Vecchio stood to tip in the ball with a dive.
HEAR FROM THE SENIORS
- Charlotte Triggs: "Senior Day was very emotional for me. UAlbany has been my family for four years. Playing with this team is amazing. I think I am just going to cry every time I think about it more."
- Jannelle Volk: "I just decided I wanted to celebrate senior day. I do have two more years of eligibility but I don't know what I want to do yet. I am so happy that I celebrated it. The team has been my family for the past four years. [With multiple challenges, I feel like] I've had this short time but I think that everything happens for a reason and overall it's just helped me grow throughout the past four years and I am so grateful to have come here. I am thankful for [Andy Thornton] and Dana [Bozek] and Phil [Sykes] and Charlotte [Triggs] and everybody on the team."
NEXT: The Great Danes will head on the road for their final regular-season contest at Vermont (Oct. 27).
For more information on the University at Albany field hockey team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanyfh
Instagram & Threads - @ualbanyfh
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyFH