With the conclusion of the field hockey regular season this past Sunday, the 2018 America East Field Hockey Championship bracket has been determined and has eight teams heading to Stanford University for the tournament, which takes place Nov. 1-4. The first game for No. 22 Stanford (13-5, 5-1 America East) is on Thursday, November 1st at 1 p.m. against the No. 36 New Hampshire Wildcats (6-11, 3-5 America East).

For fourth straight season, Stanford and No. 28 Pacific (11-7, 5-1 America East) share the West Division title, with both teams finishing the regular season with 5-1 conference records. However, the Stanford Cardinal claim the top seed by out-scoring the Pacific Tigers 5-4 in their two regular season matches, pushing the Tigers to the second seed. No. 29 Cal (5-11, 2-4 America East) and No. 60 UC Davis (6-12, 0-6 America East) take the third and fourth seeds, respectively, in the west.

On the east coast, No. 21 UAlbany (13-4, 6-2 America East) takes the top seed for the fourth-straight season. With a 3-0 sweep against No. 43 Vermont (8-10, 4-4 America East) last Sunday, the Great Danes have trounced the majority of the East Division this season, adding to their five consecutive years of eastern dominance. Making its first tournament since 2015, the Vermont Catamounts are the third seed with the New Hampshire Wildcats squeezing themselves into the champions as the fourth seed with a loss by UMass Lowell to Maine on Sunday.

Coming off a 1-2 loss to Pacific last Friday, the Cardinal is fired up and out for redemption, boasting a crew of talented players, with freshman Lily Croddick earning the Rookie of the Week title for the first time this past week after scoring one of three goals for the Cardinal in 3-0 win against UC Davis last Wednesday.

Currently on a three win streak high, the New Hampshire Wildcats will gear up for a fierce brawl as they stick it out to grab a place on Saturday’s semi-final game at 12 p.m. This match, however, will be no catfight as the fiery Cardinal spirit will drive the Wildcats back to their frosty New Hampshire forests.  

Contact Asia Zhang at asiaz ‘at’ stanford.edu