Friday’s Finals: Fairfield Face Monmouth in the CAA, Vermont Visit UAlbany in the America East

Two trophies are handed out on Friday, and both finals look like proper contests.

The CAA final is first up in spirit, if not on the clock. Fairfield face Monmouth at 3 p.m. ET (1 a.m. PKT Saturday) at Buckley Field in Philadelphia, and there’s history here. Monmouth are in their fourth straight CAA final. Fairfield won the regular-season meeting between these two in overtime. Something has to give.

Monmouth got here by beating Drexel 2-1 in Wednesday’s semi-final. Claire Campen scored twice, an equaliser and then a fourth-quarter winner, after Drexel’s Florienne Bosdijk had opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Fairfield beat Northeastern 3-1 in the other semi.

The goalscorers tell you plenty about this final. Fairfield’s Kylie Corcoran has 12 this season and Rylee LaLoup has 10. Monmouth’s Milla Frye has 14. That’s three of the most dangerous forwards in the conference on the same pitch, in a final. For our money, Monmouth’s big-game experience gives them the edge. Four straight finals means they’ve been here before. But Fairfield have already beaten them once this season, and that was in overtime too.

The America East final kicks off at 2 p.m. ET (midnight PKT) at Alumni Turf in Albany, live on ESPN+, with UAlbany hosting Vermont. The Great Danes got here with a 2-1 shootout win over Maine in Tuesday’s semi-final. Vermont’s route was the more dramatic one. They were 2-0 down to UMass Lowell and scored three unanswered goals to win 3-2.

This is Vermont’s third straight America East final. They know this stage now, and they know the road to it runs through comebacks. UAlbany have home turf and a shootout win behind them. It’s a tight call, and the team that handles the first 15 minutes better probably takes it.

Two finals, two champions, and the NCAA selection show on Sunday night will sort out what it all means.