ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — UAlbany women’s lacrosse clinches the top overall seed in the 2023 America East Tournament, dispatching New Hampshire 16-11 on Senior Day. 

Key Stats 

• Katie Pascale scored five goals and added one assist and won nine draws 
• Sarah Falk scored five goals 
• Allie Maloney scored twice with one assist 
• Ava Poupard scored two goals 
• Twenty of UAlbany’s 23 shots were on-target 
• UAlbany won 19 of 31 draws, including seven of nine in the third quarter 

Head Coach Katie Thomson: “Today was a great day honoring and celebrating our senior class.  We are so proud of all their accomplishments on and off the field, and for exemplifying what it means to be a UAlbany women’s lacrosse player daily.  We had a great game against a gritty UNH team.  Our strong start helped push us through and we will enjoy this one and then prepare for Bryant.” 

How it Happened 

• The University at Albany women’s lacrosse team hosted New Hampshire for its regular-season home finale Saturday, and honored the members of the 2023 senior class in a brief postgame ceremony.  The Great Danes had taken over sole possession of first place with their win at Binghamton last week, and could lock up the one-seed in the 2023 America East Tournament with a victory over the Wildcats. 
• Sarah Falk scored UAlbany’s first two goals, with 12:57 and 7:50 left in the first quarter, respectively, and Katie Pascale put UAlbany up 3-0 just under a minute later.  Both Falk and Pascale would score five goals against the Wildcats on Saturday. 
• New Hampshire’s Grace Curran scored to put the Wildcats on the board with 4:37 left in the first, before UAlbany scored three times, from Allie Maloney, Pascale, and Ava Poupard, in the span of 1:07 to take a 6-1 lead into the second quarter. 
• UAlbany’s run grew to 5-0 after Pascale and Grace McCauley scored to open the second quarter.  After six scoreless minutes, New Hampshire scored back-to-back just 1:06 apart to close within 8-3 with 4:38 remaining in the first half. 
• UAlbany led by the same score, 8-3, at halftime.  Despite the score discrepancy, the first-half stats were largely even between the two teams, with UAlbany outshooting New Hampshire 12-8 and outdrawing the Wildcats 7-6. 
• The Great Danes and Wildcats alternated the first five goals of the third quarter, leading to a two goals in 46 seconds for UAlbany to take a 12-5 lead.  New Hampshire regrouped and sparked a four-goal run to end the third and close the fourth, including Sydney Sventy scoring twice in 34 seconds. 
• Pascale ended New Hampshire’s run with an unassisted goal, her fifth of the game, with 7:54 left in the fourth quarter, followed quickly by Falk’s fifth goal, with 7:03 remaining.  Poupard scored her second with 4:50 to go to put UAlbany back up by six. 
• Two goals for the Wildcats in the final 3:30 led to one last score from UAlbany, from senior Mandi McElheran, netting her first goal of her career. 
• For the second-straight game, UAlbany won by a final score of 16-11.  After the Great Danes took a five-goal lead in the first half, both teams scored eight goals in the second.  UAlbany finished with a slight shots deficit, 27-23, behind a 10-5 advantage for New Hampshire in the fourth quarter, but UAlbany put 20 of their 23 shots on target. 
• The Great Danes clinched at least a share of the America East regular season title for the first time since the 2014 season and will host the America East Tournament for the second-straight year.  

Next: UAlbany closes the 2023 regular season at first-year America East program Bryant on April 29.  The America East Tournament begins May 5.