America East Quarterfinal Matchup vs. Cal (Nov. 7; 11 AM at Monmouth)

Thursday, November 7

West Long Branch, NJ

11 AM

University of New Hampshire

University of California

Photo by: Andrew Yourell

America East Quarterfinal Matchup vs. Cal (Nov. 7; 11 AM at Monmouth)

11/6/2019 10:20:00 PM | Field Hockey

UNIVERSITY of NEW HAMPSHIRE
2019 FIELD HOCKEY

UNH (8-9 overall, 2-3 AE) vs. Cal (7-10 overall, 1-3 AE)

AMERICA EAST FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
at Monmouth University | So Sweet A Cat Field
   CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
Quarterfinals: Thursday, Nov. 7
Game 1: #4 UNH vs. #5 Cal, 11 a.m.   |   Video   | Stats
Game 2: #3 Stanford vs. #6 UAlbany, 1:30 p.m.   |   Video   |   Stats
Semifinals: Friday, Nov. 8
Game 3: #1 Monmouth vs. Game 1 winner, 11 a.m.   |   Video   | Stats
Game 4: #2 Maine vs. Game 2 winner, 1:30 p.m.   |   Video   |    Stats
Final, Sunday, Nov. 10
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 12 p.m.   |   Video   |   Stats

NEW HAMPSHIRE QUARTET RECEIVES AE ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

Four Wildcats received a total of seven America East accolades when the conference announced the All-Conference Teams and major award winners on Wednesday.
Freshman back Maura Verleg received three honors, including Rookie of the Year. She was also named to the East Division All-Conference First Team and All-Rookie Team.
Junior midfielder Bloem van den Brekel was also voted to the East Division All-Conference First Team.
Senior captains Kayla Sliz and Bailey Fanikos were named to the East Division All-Conference Second Team.
Sliz was an All-Academic Team honoree for the second consecutive year.

HOW WE GOT HERE

The stakes were high in the Nov. 1 regular-season finale at home against Maine with the winner earning the East Division and tourney #2 seed.
Maine recorded a 2-0 win to earn that #2 seed.
The Wildcats, by virtue of Monmouth's win against Vermont earlier that the day, locked up one of the East Division berths despite that loss to the Black Bears.
UNH received the East Division #3 seed and tourney #4 seed when UAlbany defeated UMass Lowell this past Sunday.

UNH IN THE AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

New Hampshire is making its 25^th appearance overall – 13^th straight – in the America East tournament this year.
The Wildcats have won four titles – 1989, 1998, 2011, 2013 – and finished as runner-up eight times (most recently in 2017).
Last year, UNH was ousted in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 loss to host Stanford. | Recap | Box
The 'Cats made an improbable run to the title game in 2017 with a 3-2 overtime win against Cal and 2-1 overtime win vs. #21 Albany (the top seed of the East Division) on consecutive days.
Three games in three days proved to be a Herculean task for New Hampshire, which trailed 4-0 at halftime and finished as runner-up to Stanford.
UNH has been the East Division's third seed four of the five years of this conference tourney format.
UNH has a 15-21 overall record in conference postseason play.
The 'Cats advanced to the title game five consecutive years (2010-14).

WILDCATS VS. THE TOURNEY FIELD

New Hampshire has a 2-2 record this year against the 2019 America East Championship field.
The Wildcats upended nationally-ranked Stanford, 3-2, at home on Sept. 13 and also defeated nationally-ranked UAlbany, 4-3 in double overtime, on the road Oct. 11.
UNH lost to both Monmouth (5-1 at home Oct. 4) and Maine (2-0 at home Nov. 1).

UNH vs. CAL

New Hampshire has a 4-2 lifetime record against Cal and that includes a 3-2 overtime win against the Golden Bears in a 2017 conference quarterfinal clash (at UMass Lowell). | Recap | Box
Five of the six matchups have been at neutral sites; UNH has the 3-2 edge.
Prior to 2017, these programs had not met since September 2006, when Cal prevailed 6-1 on its home turf.
These programs first met in the 1980 AIAW national tournament with the Golden Bears recording a 2-0 win (at Southern Illinois).
UNH was a 1-0 victor in October 1986 (at Northeastern).
The Wildcats also prevailed in 1997 (2-1) and 1998 (1-0); both of those matchups were at UMass.

COMPARISON SHOPPING

Here is a side-by-side comparison of UNH and Cal:

Offense Defense Shots/Game Corners/Game
UNH 1.88 2.65 12.2 5.6
Cal 2.59 2.35 14.1 5.1

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE • Home page • Schedule • Roster • Stats

UNH enters the postseason with an 8-9 record that includes 2-3 in America East.
Thursday's quarterfinal vs. Cal will be the Wildcats' first neutral-site game of the season.
UNH has a 2-4 record against nationally-ranked teams.
Four Wildcats started all 17 regular-season games: sophomore forward Finn Caron, junior midfielder Isabelle Danahy, senior midfielder Kayla Sliz and freshman back Maura Verleg.
New Hampshire went 1-4 the last five regular-season games and was outscored 12-5 in those five games.
UNH had a five-game winning streak spanning Sept. 8-27 that was highlighted by a 3-2 home win against #18 Stanford.

STAT LEADERS

Finn Caron leads the team in goals (nine) and points (21); she is tied for the lead in assists (three) and tied for second in shots on goal (23). Caron did not record a point the last four games of the regular season.
Bloem van den Brekel and Maura Verleg are tied with Caron at three assists.
Kayla Sliz ranks second in points (12) and shots (41), and is tied for second in both goals (five) and shots on goal (23).
Bailey Fanikos is tied for second in goals (five). She scored a goal three of the last five games and 4 of 6.
Ava Mariani has scored four goals, and three of them have been game-winners.
Nicky Bajus leads the Wildcats with three defensive saves. van den Brekel and Erin Malone both have one.
Freshman goalkeeper Jemma Woods has an 8-7 record with a 2.26 GAA and .670 save percentage in 16 games (15 starts). Woods made a season-high nine saves in the 4-3 overtime win at #22 UAlbany (Oct. 11).
No one has played more minutes than freshman back Maura Verleg. She's played 1040 of a possible 1069 minutes.

CONFERENCE CALL

Finn Caron is ranked No. 7 in America East in goals per game (0.529) and No. 10 in points per game (1.24).
Bloem van den Brekel is No. 6 in shots per game (3.21) and No. 10 in shots on goal (1.71 per game).
Nicky Bajus is tied for second in defensive saves with three.
Ava Mariani is tied for third in game-winning goals with three.

FIRST BLOOD

The team that scored the first goal won 14 of 17 regular-season games.
UNH took a 1-0 lead five times and went on to victory all five times.
The Wildcats were 3-9 when surrendering the game's first goal. The three comeback wins were in successive games against Stanford, Brown and Dartmouth.

CLOSE CALLS

New Hampshire has a 6-2 record in games decided by one goal with a 2-1 mark in games decided beyond regulation – 2-0 in double OT and 0-1 in OT shootout.

NO GOAL FOR YOU

The Wildcats recorded one shutout (4-0 win vs. Bryant on Sept. 27) and were shut out four times in the regular season; two of the last three games were 2-0 losses to Boston College and Maine.

INSIDE THE STATS

New Hampshire recorded the shot advantage 7 of 17 games; the 'Cats tallied a season-high 26 shots in the 4-3 double OT win at Dartmouth; UNH recorded 15+ shots three other times.
UNH has a 5-2 record when finishing with the shot advantage, as well as a 1-1 mark when the shots are even.
The Wildcats had the edge in penalty corners 9 of 17 games and had a 5-4 record. The 'Cats recorded a season-high 17 corners at Dartmouth; the next highest total was nine (twice – at Boston U. and at UAlbany).
New Hampshire has scored on 32 of 207 shots (15.5%) with 123 of 207 shots on goal (59.4%); in comparison, the opposition has scored on 45 of 216 shots (20.8%) with 137 of 216 on goal (63.4%).
The 'Cats were outscored in the first (7-5), second (9-7) and fourth (17-7) quarters; both sides scored 11 times in the third quarter.
UNH has been outshot 44-30 in the first quarter and 56-51 in the second, as well as 67-51 in the fourth. The Wildcats had the 59-44 edge in the third quarter.

BALDUCCI BIO

This is the 29^th season as UNH head coach for Robin Balducci.
She is the program's all-time winningest coach with 288 career victories
Balducci was inducted into the NFHCA Hall of Fame on Jan. 5, 2017.
She was inducted into UNH's Hall of Fame in 1998 and was also part of the 1985 NCAA national championship women's lacrosse team that was enshrined in 1994.
Balducci is a six-time America East Coach of the Year (1998, 2000-10-11-12-13).

SCOUTING CAL • Home page

The University of California (Berkeley, Calif.) ended the regular season with a 7-10 record that included 1-3 in the America East West Division and 3-2 at neutral sites.
The Golden Bears finished second in the West Division to earn the #5 seed in the America East Championship tourney.
Cal has a 1-8 record against nationally-ranked teams.
The Golden Bears closed the regular season with a 2-1 loss at UC Davis on Oct. 30; they enter the tourney on a two-game losing streak.