LOWELL, MASS. -  In another banner game for the defending NFHCA National Player of the Year, No. 10 University at Albany (11-2, 3-1 AE) cruised past UMass Lowell (5-9, 0-4 AE) 3-1 on Friday afternoon. Paula Heuser notched her 13th and 14th goals of the season in the victory.

“I'm happy with the progress we've made through the first half of conference play,” said head coach Phil Sykes. “We've had some bumps in the road, but that's to be expected. We're focused on remaining consistent through the regular season, and today was a big step in doing that.”

UAlbany was out of the gate quickly, firing off five shots on four penalty corners in the first 10 minutes. With the return of Fiori Van Rijswijk to insert, Heuser, Kelsey Briddell and Liza Morgan all fired off shots in the early going.

The Danes saw their second penalty stroke of the season in the 11th minute, but Heuser shot wide left. The junior didn't take much time to rebound, taking the ball herself mid-way through the first half to make the score 1-0. Heuser went top shelf for her 13th goal of the year.

At the half, UAlbany had not allowed a shot or a penalty corner. The Purple & Gold took 10 unanswered shots to go with five corners.

With a just a 1-0 edge at the break, the Danes came out ready to score in the second period. Camryn Dias made a move on net in the 40th minute, but River Hawk goalkeeper Kelsey Federico slid in for a save. Moments later, a Van Rijswijk corner to Frederike Helmke came up empty in the UMass Lowell end.

Liza Morgan finally gave Sykes's squad the cushion it was looking for. The senior approached the edge of the circle to turn and fire down the middle for a 2-0 UAlbany advantage. Morgan has six goals on the year.

With momentum secured, the Purple & Gold exerted its authority on defense and offense, building out of the back on UMass Lowell turnovers. Connecting through the midfield, Briddell found Heuser with just over 10 minutes to play to make the score 3-0. Briddell has three points in the last three games, helping Heuser to her 14th goal of the year.

Maxi Primus saw some action in the cage late. The junior made two saves before falling victim to a River Hawks scramble in front of the net with three minutes to go.

Primus needs one more win to become the all-time winningest goalkeeper in UAlbany program history. The Berlin native was the first UAlbany goalkeeper to be named an NFHCA All-American last season.

UAlbany field hockey (11-2, 3-1 AE) continues its America East road swing on Sunday at Vermont (3-11, 1-3 AE) with a 2:00pm start.