ORONO- Haley Mossmer recorded a hat trick on Friday afternoon, leading the Stanford Cardinal to a 3-1 upset victory over the #23 Maine Black Bears in a semifinal of the America East Tournament at the Maine Field Hockey Complex.
The fifth seeded Cardinal really made things difficult for the top seeded Black Bears all afternoon long with their defensive pressure, and not giving Maine any good chances for the entire first half. Mossmer opened the scoring 4:54 into the second quarter, taking a pass from Molly Redgrove and blasting a shot from just inside the circle past Mia Borley into the left corner of the net for a 1-0 Stanford halftime lead. Maine, ranked third nationally in scoring (3.56 goals per game), would start turn up the intensity in the third quarter with some better chances. They had three penalty corner opportunities within a span of 2:08, but couldn’t capitalize. Just 31 seconds after the third penalty corner for the Black Bears, Mossmer took a drop pass from Lynn Vanderstichele in the circle and beat Borley again at the 11:16 mark. She capped off her hat trick 3:21 into the fourth, tipping a shot by Vanderstichele into the cage. The hosts would finally get on the board with just 22 seconds remaining on a penalty corner, with Poppy Lambert scoring her 22nd goal of the season but it was too little too late for the defending champions.
Borley made one save in the loss for Maine. Julia Ross and Madysn Hartley both had an assist on the Lambert goal. The 22nd marker of the season by Lambert breaks a single season school record. Her 51 total points also ties a program record. The Black Bears, who finished 8-0 in America East in the regular season to earn the top spot and host the tournament for a second straight year, end up with a final overall record of 14-5. Daisy Ford and Kendall Dowd combined to make five saves in the win for Stanford. Vanderstichele had two assists, while Redgrove had one. The Cardinal improve to 10-8, and will play #2 seed Albany in the America East Title game on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Great Danes knocked off UNH 2-1 in the second semifinal on Friday. Albany was the runner-up last season, losing to Maine 2-1 in a shootout in the championship game.
