Road Trip for April 3 Game at Vermont (AE.TV)

Saturday, April 3

Burlington, Vt.

3 PM

University of New Hampshire

Vermont

4/2/2021 9:53:00 AM | Field Hockey

New Hampshire (4-4, 1-3 America East) at Vermont (0-6, 0-4 AE)
Saturday, April 3 | 3 PM
Moulton Winder Field | Burlington, Vt.

WATCH on americaeast.tv | Live Stats

UNH Field Hockey Home Page
Vermont Field Hockey Home Page

THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for series history, boxes & recaps (Oct. 2005-now)

UNH has a 35-7 lifetime record, including 17-5 on the road, against Vermont.
The Wildcats were 2-1 victors in the most recent meeting (Oct. 25, 2019 at UVM) and won by the same score in the previous matchup (Oct. 21, 2018 in Burlington).
UVM won consecutive meetings in October 2017 (1-0 in double OT at Vermont) and Oct. 5, 2018 (3-1 at UNH).
New Hampshire won 12 consecutive meetings spanning the 2008-17 seasons.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

UNH has a 4-4 overall record that includes 0-2 on the road and 1-3 in America East (0-1 in conference road games).
This weekend's matchup at Vermont will be the first Saturday game of the season for the Wildcats.
In the most recent game, the 'Cats lost 4-2 at Maine on Sunday, March 28.
New Hampshire went 1-2 in a six-day spanning March 19-24; the Wildcats lost 1-0 to UAlbany (March 19), defeated UC Davis, 2-0 (March 21), and lost to Stanford, 3-0 (March 24).
Six of UNH's eight games have ended with a shutout; the Wildcats have blanked three opponents and been shut out three times.
UNH is 1-2 against teams ranked in this week's NFHCA national poll; the Wildcats defeated UMass (3-1 score), and lost to BC (2-0) and Stanford (3-0).
Led by 30^th-year head coach Robin Balducci, UNH returns seven starters and 14 letterwinners from the 2019 squad that went 8-10 with a pair of wins against nationally-ranked teams and advanced to the America East quarterfinals.
The Wildcats also welcome back a redshirt freshman, have added one transfer and a total of nine freshmen.
Eight 'Cats have started every game this season, and that includes freshman Lindsay Lee; classmate Rosalie Post has started all six games that she has played and senior Erin Malone has seven starts in seven games played.

THE NUMBERS GAME

New Hampshire has outscored the opposition 16-11, but the opponents have the edge in shots (91-77) and penalty corners are even at 28; BC accounts for 14 of the opponents' corners, whereas Stanford and Maine account for more than half the shots with 19 and 21, respectively.
The Wildcats are averaging 2.00 goals, 9.6 shots and 3.5 penalty corners per game. In comparison, opponents have averaged 1.38 goals, 11.4 shots and 3.5 corners per game.
UNH has scored 16 goals on 77 shots for a .208 shooting percentage; the opponents are 11-for-91 (.121 shooting percentage).

STAT BREAKDOWN

In four wins, UNH has allowed totals of one goal and 19 shots; that includes three shutouts as well as two games in which the Wildcats have limited the opponent to three shots.
New Hampshire did not yield a penalty corner in consecutive games against UAlbany and UC Davis.
In the four losses, the Wildcats have been outscored 10-2 and outshot 72-27.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED | Box Score | Recap

Sophomore goalie Jemma Woods made a career-high 11 saves, but UNH was upended 4-2 by Maine last Sunday at UMaine Field Hockey Turf.
Woods allowed three goals in 52:59 of action; she recorded eight saves in the third quarter.
Redshirt freshman Nikki Tredwell allowed the first goal of the game (and made one save) in her 7:01 relief stint in the second quarter.
Tredwell was forced into action when a rising shot off the stick of a Maine player struck Woods on the leg above the pads. She entered the game 5:47 into the second quarter. Woods reentered with 2:12 remaining in the half.
Sophomore Ava Mariani scored twice to match her career high in both goals (two) and points (four).
Maine had a two-goal lead three times: 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2.

OFFENSIVE OUTPUT

Sophomore Ava Mariani leads UNH in both goals (six) and points (12), as well as shooting percentage with six goals on 12 shots (that's a .500 shooting percentage); her .750 shots on goal percentage is best among the five Wildcats with 5+ shots.
Mariani tied her career highs in both goals (two) and points (four) against both Merrimack and Maine this season.
Junior Finn Caron ranks second in both goals (four) and points (eight). She has a team-high 15 shots. Caron matched her career highs in both goals (three) and points (six) against Merrimack on March 3.
Senior captain Bloem van den Brekel has one goal and two assists for four points. van den Brekel ranks second on the team with 12 shots.
van den Brekel and freshman Lindsay Lee are tied for the team lead in assists. Lee recorded both her assists in UNH's 2-0 win vs. UC Davis (March 21).

ACTIVE LEADERBOARD

Senior captain Bloem van den Brekel has career totals of 19 goals and 16 assists for 54 points in 62 games. She is UNH's active leader in assists and points.
Junior Finn Caron is the active leader in career goals with 21, and her 46 points rank second to van den Brekel.
Senior captain Isabelle Danahy leads all current 'Cats with 65 games played.

DEFENDING THE CAGE

Sophomore Jemma Woods has started each of the last seven games, and redshirt freshman Nikki Tredwell saw action the first two games of the season as well as last Sunday at Maine.
The duo combined to shut out Merrimack College on March 3 and has combined to record a 1.38 GAA and .804 save percentage.
Woods has a 3-4 record with a 1.41 GAA, .812 save percentage (39 saves; nine goals against) and two shutouts.
She recorded her first career shutout March 14 against Northeastern; two days earlier, she tallied double-digit saves for the first time in her career with 10 at Boston College.
Woods recorded her second shutout with a five-save effort in a 2-0 win vs. UC Davis on March 21.
Tredwell is 1-0 with a 1.24 GAA and .750 save percentage in 97 minutes, 1 second. She made her collegiate debut by starting against UMass, and she stopped 5 of 6 shots to record her first career win in UNH's 3-1 victory on Feb. 26.
Tredwell played the second half of the Merrimack game and did not face a shot on goal in 30 minutes.

NEW HAMPSHIRE RECEIVES NFHCA NATIONAL ACADEMIC TEAM AWARD

UNH earned a 2020 NFHCA Division I National Academic Team Award, which honors programs that earned a team GPA of 3.0 or higher in the Fall 2020 semester.

THREE WILDCATS NAMED NFHCA SCHOLARS OF DISTINCTION

Senior Conner Allen and freshmen Reagan Calcari and Olivia Watson were named NFHCA Scholars of Distinction on March 25. Allen has received this honor all four years.
Student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.9 or higher through the first semester of the 2020-21 academic year earn this accolade.

ELEVEN 'CATS NAMED TO NATIONAL ACADEMIC SQUAD

A total of 11 UNH field hockey players were named to the 2020 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I National Academic Squad.
The National Academic Squad program honors student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher through the first semester of the 2020-21 academic year.
Conner Allen and Erin Malone have been named to the National Academic Squad all four years.
Isabelle Danahy and Tori Palumbo were feted for the third consecutive year.
Reagan Calcari, Gigi Fay, Lindsay Lee, Molly McAteer, Nikki Tredwell, Olivia Watson and Jemma Woods were all first-time honorees.

THE CAPTAINS

UNH is captained by seniors Isabelle Danahy and Bloem van den Brekel.
Danahy started 35 of 36 games the previous two seasons, including all 18 in the 2019 season. The midfielder/back ranked fourth among field players in minutes played (960 of a possible 1,125) and recorded a total of six points on two goals and two assists.
This season, Danahy has started every game and played 389 of a possible 480 minutes.
van den Brekel has already had a highly-decorated career at UNH. She was named to the NFHCA Northeast Region First Team in 2019, one year after making the Second Team. van den Brekel has also been selected to the America East East Division All-Conference Team each of the past two years.
The midfielder tied for the lead in assists (three), tied for third in points (11) and tied for fourth in goals (four) in the 2019 season, when she was also credited with a defensive save.
This season, van den Brekel has started every game and played 453 of 480 minutes.

THE SENIORS

UNH has five seniors, including the aforementioned captains, on the Spring 2021 roster.
Erin Malone has been an anchor of New Hampshire's defensive unit the past two years. She had nine starts in 12 games as a sophomore in 2018 and increased those numbers to 15 starts in 17 games in 2019. Malone was credited with one defensive save in '19.
Malone did not play in the 2021 opener but has started each of the past seven games and played the full 60 each of the past six games; she has been on the field 413 of 420 minutes.
Conner Allen is one of the lynchpins at midfield. In her first year as a Wildcat in 2019, Allen played in 16 games with eight starts, including the last five games of the regular season.
Allen recorded her first point as a 'Cat with an assist in the March 14 win against Northeastern.
She leads all Wildcats in minutes played with 470 of a possible 480.
In the Feb. 26 season opener, Allen made a key defensive stop at the 25 when her tackle denied UMass' potential 2-on-1 rush, and she has continued to make impactful defensive plays.
Megan Borneman adds depth to the defensive unit. She played in four games her first three years as a Wildcat. She made her spring 2021 debut in the game vs. Merrimack and also saw action vs. Northeastern and Stanford.

THREE IN A HURRY

New Hampshire scored four goals in the second quarter of the March 3 game vs. Merrimack, three of which were scored in a span of 3 minutes, 56 seconds. Sophomore Ava Mariani ignited the spurt just 28 seconds into the second quarter, followed by consecutive goals by junior Finn Caron at 17:08 and 19:24 to extend UNH's lead to 5-0.
In the Feb. 26 season opener vs. UMass, the Wildcats scored three third-quarter goals in 3 minutes, 4 seconds to quickly transform a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
Mariani scored off a rebound at 33:00 to ignite the rally and then Caron converted another rebound into a goal and 2-1 lead at 35:16.
Senior captain Bloem van den Brekel scored 48 seconds later when she intercepted a clearing attempt on the right side of the circle and fired a reverse-stick into the cage.

WILDCATS RANKED IN FIRST NATIONAL POLL OF SEASON

New Hampshire entered the inaugural Penn-Monto NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll of the season (that was released March 16) at No. 18.
The Wildcats were the only America East team in that top-20 poll.
At #20, Stanford is the only conference team ranked in this week's NFHCA poll (March 30).

UNH PICKED FIFTH IN AMERICA EAST PRESEASON POLL

UNH was voted fifth in the Spring 2021 America East Field Hockey Preseason Poll that was released Feb. 17.
Monmouth topped the poll with 60 points and five first-place votes. Maine (56 points; three first-place votes) was next, followed by a tie for third between Stanford and UAlbany with 46 points.
UNH (32) was followed by Cal (29), UMass Lowell (21), Vermont (18) and UC Davis (16).

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