For the first time ever in school history, the University of Maine and the Maine Field Hockey Complex in Orono will be the site for the 2021 America East Field Hockey Tournament beginning on Thursday.
Maine (13-6 overall, 7-1 America East) locked up the top seed and gets the opportunity to host. Joining the Black Bears in a first round bye to the semifinals on Friday is #2 seed Monmouth (12-5, 6-2). The quarterfinal round Thursday at 12 p.m. has #4 seed California (9-6, 5-3) against #5 UNH (7-11, 3-5) followed by #3 Albany (9-8, 6-2) against #6 Stanford (4-8, 3-5) at 3 p.m. The Cal/UNH winner will face Maine at 12 p.m. Friday, while the Albany/Stanford winner will get Monmouth at 3 p.m. also on Friday. The two semifinal winners will meet for the conference championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Stanford Cardinal are the defending America East Champions, winning the last tournament that was played in 2019 at Monmouth that included a 1-0 shootout win over Maine in the semifinal round.
Maine has beaten all five of the other teams in the field in the regular season and has an 8-1 home record. The Black Bears beat Monmouth 5-3, Stanford 3-2, and California 4-1 in Orono and also topped Albany 2-1 on the road and UNH 4-2 on Sunday in Durham in the regular season finale.
Maine has been led by senior Chloe Walton who has the team lead in points with 10 goals and six assists. Graduate student Brooke Sulinski from Old Town has registered 11 goals and four assists, while sophomore Poppy Lambert is the team leader in goals with 13 on the season. Junior Madisyn Hartley from Pittsfield has a goal and 11 assists, while grad student Hana Davis (8 goals, 2 assists) and senior Sydney Meader from Boothbay Harbor also has 10 points with six goals and four assists. Senior Mia Borley has started all 19 games in goal for the Black Bears and has a 1.83 goals against average, making 79 saves with a .699 save percentage.
