UAlbany lax begins playoffs tonight
ALBANY, N.Y. >> The No. 5 Albany Great Danes open up their America East Conference tournament on Thursday evening at Casey Stadium. They’ll be the No. 1 seed facing No. 4 Stony Brook at 7 p.m. Binghamton will play UMBC at 4:30 p.m., also at Casey Stadium.
Though the Great Danes are very highly favored to take home the conference trophy, there is a lot at stake. Here’s a look at the three biggest storylines for tournament.
Albany lost as the No. 1 seed last year
On the night of No. 4 Albany’s shocking overtime loss to Hartford and the conference championship, head coach Scott Marr told his players to go watch the championship, even if they weren’t going to be a part of it.
He wanted his team to see what it looked like for another team to win on its home field. A year later,
Albany has a chance to put that out of their minds once and for all.
“A bunch of us went,” UA leading scorer Connor Fields said. “It put a bitter taste in our mouths...We’re pumped for another opportunity at it.”
This year, Albany leads the country in wins (12) and has yet to lose a game in the America East conference. They haven’t won by fewer than six goals.
In the loss to Hartford last year, Albany got killed at the faceoff X, going 4-for-24. The emergence of TD Ierlan has made those types of games nonexistent this season, and helped boost an offense that’s become more balanced in 2017.
“Coaches tend not to talk to us about last year,” at-
tack Justin Reh said. “It’s a new year, it’s a new team. So as long as we work hard in practice, it’s good to be here. Every team dreams about playing in their conference championship.”
Albany is squarely on the bubble
This tournament might be a must-win for the Great Danes, just like it is for the three other teams playing in it.
Despite having just two losses to two of the top three teams in the country by a combined two goals, that might not be enough.
Only 17 teams make the NCAA Tournament. And right now, Albany may or may not be in with a loss this weekend. Every bubble team got a bad break with North Carolina winning the ACC Tournament last weekend.
They would have been out with a loss, but now the
ACC will have three of the eight at-large spots.
Then there’s the Penn State/Ohio State/Johns Hopkins that will likely all have an at-large spot if Maryland wins the Big 10.
Last season, Albany got an at-large berth. But they don’t want to sit around waiting for one this year.
“I think we’re right there on the bubble as far as hosting a game, being in the tournament,” Marr said.
“I think we’ve built a good resume. We have 12 wins right now, the most wins in the country. We’re just going to focus on winning Thursday night.”
Albany could host an NCAA Tournament game
Yes that’s right. The Great Danes could just as easily host as they could miss the big dance all together.
Albany hasn’t hosted since 2007, but with eight teams getting home sites and UA ranked No. 5, there’s always that chance. Experts might look at how the Great Danes have only one Top 15 win ( home vs. Yale) as a reason to send them on the road, though.
They have zero bad losses, and hung tough with some of the country’s best teams. And some of it will have to do with how Yale, Harvard, Syracuse, Drexel and UMass finish out their seasons. If Albany improves on its RPI because of that, then maybe it will become more of a possibility. Right now, the Danes are No. 8 in RPI.
“If it happens that we win the tournament and go on from there, then we feel like we could get a home game,” Fields said. “We have some good wins against some good teams. Yeah, we feel like we deserve one this year.”