FARMINGTON, Maine - University of Maine at Farmington field hockey (10-4-0, 3-1-0) enters the North Atlantic Conference Championship as the #1 seed and will host Thomas College (4-11-0, 2-3-0) on Wednesday at 2:00pm.
The last time UMF entered as the #1 seed was 2007. That year the Beavers won the championship and advanced to the Division III Regional, losing to Middlebury College in the first round. The Beavers also finished #1 and won the NAC championship in 2006.
This year's match-up will be the third consecutive semifinal game between the two schools with the Beavers winning the last two (2014- 2 to 1, 2015- 2 to 1). The Beavers enter the game ranked third in the conference in goals scored with 44 (3.1pg), lead by Emmah Spahr (Winthrop, Maine/Winthrop) with 18 goals on the season. Spahr is one goal shy of tying the all-time mark set in 1995 by Kelly Duffy of 19 for a single season. Carly Raymond (Topsham, Maine/Mt.Ararat) has scored nine goals and Jenessa Talarico (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) has six. Andrea Stemm (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) leads the team with seven assists.
UMF leads the NAC in Goals Against Average (GAA) with 1.71. Patty Smith (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) the reigning Defensive Player of the Year is 9-4 in goal with three shutouts to her credit. In front of Smith, Lee-Anne Greenleaf (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner), Torrie Nightingale (Bangor, Maine/Bangor), and Chelsea Ballard (Fairfield, Maine/Lawrence) lead a defense that has a GAA in the conference of 1.20.
Coach Cyndi Pratt in her 13th year knows her team needs to be prepared "The playoffs are a different season, anything that happened previously doesn't matter. Thomas is a great team and we will need to play our best to beat them."
In the earlier meeting this year played at Thomas College the Beavers won 2-0. Raymond and Spahr both scored goals in the first half. Smith made only one save in the shutout victory. UMF outshot Thomas 19-3.
Since 2000, UMF leads in the head to head battle 24 to 4 and is 7-3 over the last ten meetings.
