Score: #2 UAlbany 20, #3 New Hampshire 16 Location: LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y. Records: UAlbany (11-6, 6-1 AE); New Hampshire (10-7, 5-2 AE) Short Story: UAlbany uses a big second half to overcome a halftime deficit and advance to the program’s ninth-straight America East title game. Coach Rowan: “We never give up. We’ve been down before, including to New Hampshire back in April, so we know that we can come back and keep grinding. This game in particular was great preparation for Saturday against Stony Brook. We’ll make some adjustments, put a few wrinkles in, and be ready for Saturday.” Key Stats Madison Conway scored six goals and recorded three assists Sam Tortora scored four goals and had five assists Kyla Zapolski scored three goals with three assists Hailey Carroll scored four goals and won seven draws UAlbany outscored New Hampshire 12-7 in the second half UAlbany outdrew New Hampshire 21-16 Recap In a rematch of their most thrilling game from the regular season, the second-seed University at Albany defeated three-seed New Hampshire in the semifinals of the America East Tournament Thursday afternoon. The Great Danes advance to their ninth-straight title game, and will face off against Stony Brook for the eighth-straight season. UAlbany scored the first two goals of the game within 90 seconds of the opening draw, with 2019 Offensive Player of the Year Madison Conway finishing a setup from Julia Imbo 28 seconds into the game. Kendra Harbinger put UAlbany up 2-0 early with an unassisted goal less than one minute later. New Hampshire broke through one minute later with their first goal to cut the lead to 2-1, before Sam Tortora re-extended UAlbany’s lead to two just 21 seconds following the Wildcats’ first goal. Neither team scored for the next 10 minutes, when Ally Alliegro put UAlbany up 4-1 with 17:49 left in the first. New Hampshire rolled off each of the next four goals stretching nearly eight minutes of game time to take a 5-4 lead with 9:18 left in the half. Conway connected with Kyla Zapolski to tie the game at five with 8:17 to go before the break. The Wildcats scored each of the next three to take an 8-5 lead with 5:32 remaining in the first. Tortora finished a setup from Zapolski to break New Hampshire’s scoring run with 4:03 remaining before halftime. The Wildcats scored once more before the break, maintaining their three-goal advantage with 2:31 to go, taking a 9-6 lead. UAlbany scored each of the last two goals in the final 1:18 of the first half, first from Tortora and then from Conway on a setup from Tortora, to head into the break trailing 9-8. Conway scored twice in the first half and added one assist. Tortora recorded a hat trick with one assist. UAlbany’s starting goalkeeper Georgia Schneidereith recorded three saves in 26 minutes before being relieved in net by Erin Leghart. The two-goal run to end the first led into a five-goal run to open the second for the Great Danes. With 24:35 left in the game, UAlbany led 14-9. The Wildcats broke UAlbany’s cumulative seven-goal run with 21:25 to go in the game to bring the score to 14-10. UAlbany scored the next two goals to go up 16-10 with 18:22 remaining. New Hampshire next rolled off each of the next three to come within 16-13 with 8:43 left. Conway’s successful free position shot with 7:13 to go sparked one final four-goal run for the Great Danes to go up 20-13 with 2:23 remaining. New Hampshire’s Devan Miller scored three times in the final two minutes to bring the Wildcats within four, but the effort fell shot with UAlbany sealing a 20-16 victory to advance to Saturday’s championship game. Conway finished with six goals and three assists, while Tortora scored four goals and recorded five assists. Rookie of the Year Hailey Carroll score four goals, and Kyla Zapolski scored three goals and had three assists. In goal, Leghart recorded five saves, combining with Schneidereith for eight total over the course of the game. Next: UAlbany advances to the America East final against top-seed Stony Brook on Saturday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m.