No.11 Field Hockey Faces Sacred Heart, No. 6 Stanford This Weekend at Alumni Field
ALBANY, N.Y.- The University at Albany field hockey team hosts Sacred Heart on Friday at 3:00 p.m., before facing its first nationally ranked opponent, No. 6 Stanford on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Through games on Sunday, the Great Danes (8-0) are one of four remaining unbeaten teams in Division I. UAlbany ranks third nationally in scoring average (4.63 goals per game), second in goals against average (0.75) and third in points per game (12.38).
The Great Danes are coming off 4-1 and 4-2 victories against Lehigh and Lafayette, respectively, on the road. Prior to last weekend’s wins in Pennsylvania, UAlbany tallied four straight wins at home. Phil Sykes & co. plays a program-record 11 games on home soil this season.
Daphne Voormolen, UAlbany’s points leader this season, is five points away from tallying 100 for her career. She ranks third all-time in career points (95) and goals (40).
Also climbing the all-time leaderboard is Corrine McConville. The senior defender ranks fourth all-time in points (90) and goals (39). McConville is 5-for-5 this season on penalty strokes and 15-of-16 for her career. She ranks first all-time in career penalty strokes attempted and made in the Division I era. The senior has also played the third-most minutes in Division I program history (4,924).
SCOUTING SACRED HEART:
UAlbany leads the all-time series 4-1 against the Pioneers, but the two teams haven’t met since 2004. Sacred Heart won the last meeting nearly a decade ago 4-3.
The Pioneers (3-4) started the 2013 season 2-0 with wins against Towson, 3-2 and Villanova, 2-1 on the road. Yale handed Sacred Heart its worst loss of the season on Sept. 7, a 6-0 shutout in New Haven.
Sacred Heart has lost two of its four games by one goal, including a 1-0 loss at Holy Cross on Sept. 15 and a 2-1 OT loss to America East’s Fairfield on Sept. 20.
Midfielder Liz Bergman and forward Christine Mace have combined for seven of Sacred Heart’s 11 goals in 2013.
SCOUTING NO. 6 STANFORD:
Stanford leads the all-time series against the Great Danes 3-1, winning the last meeting 3-2 on Aug. 31, 2011.
The Cardinal (6-1) matched its program-best national ranking last week after earning their fourth-consecutive shutout against California. Stanford is the only team in the nation with a better goals against average (0.69) than the Great Danes (0.75). In its shutout streak the Cardinal has held opponents to a combined nine shots and five penalty corners.
Stanford suffered its only loss of the season to third-ranked UConn 2-1 in double overtime on opening weekend.
The Cardinal have won the NorPac tournament five of the last six years, and entered the 2013 season nationally ranked for the fourth straight year.
Before meeting the Great Danes on Sunday at 1 p.m., the Cardinal face off against No. 5 Syracuse at Alumni Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.
