ALBANY, N.Y.- The University at Albany (4-1, 2-0 NEC) used big plays to hand Monmouth University (3-2, 2-1 NEC) its first conference loss of the season Saturday afternoon at University Field.

Monmouth opened the game with a 12 play scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead over the Great Danes but Albany used three long scoring plays of 77, 81 and 61 yards to take a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Hawks would close the gap late, getting to within 10 points in the third quarter but the Albany offense was able to keep pace to clinch the victory.

"I think Albany proved they are an outstanding football team and they proved why they are getting votes for the top 25," said head coach Kevin Callahan. "This game was completely one-sided, they were in control of the game from the start. We made a little bit of a push to get ourselves back in there in the beginning of the fourth quarter but after closing to within 10 we weren't able to capitalize on anything after that. It is hard to find one area of the game that we won. They won or dominated in pretty much every aspect of it. We didn't win the one on one battles on offense, defense or special teams. I think as a coaching staff we weren't at our best either because we didn't have our guys prepared for the game."

The Great Danes racked up 511 yards of total offense, compared with Monmouth's 327. Kyle Frazier (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) threw for 274 yards on 33 of 52 passing, both career highs. UA running back Drew Smith pounded his way to 109 yards with three touchdowns to lead the Danes.

After the teams traded punts on their opening possessions of the second half, Albany's Smith expanded the halftime Great Dane lead to 31-10 with a four yard scoring run early in the third quarter. Great Dane kicker Sean Kenny added a 49 yard field goal to give Albany a 24 point cushion with 6:57 to play in the third quarter.

The Hawks answered with a big possession moving the ball down the field with big throws including a 38 yard touchdown strike to Neal Sterling (Belmar, N.J./Manasquan). The drive covered 75 yards, 23 of which were to wideout Tristan Roberts (Ansonia, Conn./Lackawanna C.C.).  Eric Spillane (Howell, N.J./Colts Neck) nailed the extra point, cutting the Albany lead to 34-17 with 4:03 left in the third quarter.

Momentum swung in the Hawks favor when Tyler Verga (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) recovered a fumble after a huge hit on the ensuing kickoff.  Needing just 25 yards for the score, Frazier went to work . Julian Hayes (Middletown, Conn./Xavier/The Hun School) cleared the pile with his first touchdown of the game cutting the Albany lead to 34-24 with 1:19 to play in the third quarter.

Senior Pete Nagy (East Hanover, N.J./Hanover Park/Montclaire St.) provided a much needed spark with a 62 yard kickoff return down to the Albany 37. Frazier connected with George for a 13 yarder down to the UA 13 but threw his second interception of the game, this time to Dane linebacker Dean Mercuris.

Albany scored on another big play, this time Fiacchi finding wideout Kevin Chillis for a 44 yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, pushing the score to 41-24.

The offense started the game off hot as Frazier completed a pair of third down conversions to tight end Tyler George on the Hawks' opening drive but it was a 24 yard touchdown pass down the seam to George that gave MU an early 7-0 lead. Frazier was a perfect nine-of-nine on the drive which went 12 plays covering 87 yards over 5:09 of game time.

The Monmouth defense was outstanding on the first Albany drive forcing a fourth and long, but the Great Danes pulled a fake punt from their own 23, with Chillis running the ball 77 yards for a touchdown.

Just 1:53 later the Great Danes took their first lead of the game, with Fiacchi hitting Ryan Kirchner for an 81 yard touchdown on Albany's first play of its next possession. It was running back Drew Smith who expanded that lead to 21-7, running 61 yards untouched with just over a minute to play in the first quarter.

The Great Danes drove down the field against MU, earning a first and goal from the two. MU stiffened holding Albany to a field goal with 8:47 remaining in the first half.

Monmouth's Spillane responded with a 38 yard field goal to cut the lead to 24-10. The field goal gave Spillane 32 for his career, making him the all-time leader in Monmouth history. Frazier led the Hawks on a 10-play 56 yard drive, connecting on key passes to George and Roberts.

The Hawk defense was able to recover a Fiacchi fumble on the Albany 43 with 50 seconds remaining in the half but were unable to cut into the deficit as Albany took a 24-10 lead into halftime.

Albany is now 11-4 all-time against Monmouth, including six straight victories over the Hawks. The Great Danes dominated in the ground game, out rushing MU 263-53.

George led the Hawks in receiving with seven catches for 75 yards, Roberts finished with 55 yards on four catches. Dave Damirgian (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock) led the Hawks in tackles with a career-best eight tackles, while Dan Sullivan (Manasquan, N.J./Manasquan) had seven.

Fiacchi finished 16-of-30 passing for 248 yards and two touchdowns, 121 of which went to Kirchner.

Monmouth has next week off before coming back to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule with a showdown against Cornell on October 13.

Nest Notes
-George is now fourth all-time at Monmouth with 111 catches
-He also moved into eighth in reception yardage with 1,009 yards, becomes the eighth player to eclipse the 1,000 yard plateau
-Spillane set the record for successful field goals with just 43 attempts.
- For the first time all season Monmouth trailed in time of possession and lost the turnover battle
-Albany's 55 points were the most yielded by a Monmouth defense since a 1999 loss to Lehigh (56 points)
-At the half Albany had six third down conversions, the same amount the MU defense allowed in the previous four contests.
-Prior to the three interception day for Frazier, the fifth year senior had thrown just three interceptions all season