Sports

Wildcats claw past Black Bears, 2-1

UMaine soccer scores first goal in three games

By Kevin Gove

Posted on Oct. 04, 2001, at 12:00 a.m.

By Kevin Gove

For The Maine Campus

Josh Hareld scored on a break-away, in minute 67, to lift the University of New Hampshire soccer team to a 2-1 win over the University of Maine at Alumni Field Tuesday afternoon.

It was the America East opener for both teams. The Black Bears dropped to 1-5-0 overall while the Wildcats improved to 3-3-1.

After giving up a total of 14 goals and being held scoreless in its last two matches, UMaine picked up the intensity against UNH and produced plenty of scoring opportunities.

“I thought everyone wanted it a lot more today,” Black Bear junior Luke Garner said. “There’s a fire that’s been lacking in a couple of the past games. Those chances come from hard work and everyone being in the right place at the right time.”

UMaine never backed down after Hareld’s goal. Junior Patrick Kelly and freshman Matthew Bernal both had shots from inside the UNH penalty box blocked by Wildcat defenders with less than eight minutes remaining in the game. During another rush, Garner unloaded a shot near the 18-yard line that was tipped over the crossbar by UNH goal keeper Shaun O’Neil.

Wildcat head coach Rob Thompson was disappointed with his team’s control of the ball late in the second half.

“We didn’t do a good job of holding possession,” Thompson said. “We held on just the last five minutes. It was not good soccer.”

The Black Bears held UNH to 13 shots for the game, but the Wildcats made the most of those opportunities.

“I don’t think we generated as many chances as we thought we could, but in terms of the finishing I thought that was good,” Thompson added.

Nicholas Mello gave UNH a 1-0 lead on a give-and-go play with Hareld, 5:17 into the first half. UMaine buckled down defensively after the opening goal and allowed just three shots on goal the rest of the half. They also started putting together strong offensive rushes.

Less than 10 minutes before half time, sophomore Matt Young served up a cross from the right sideline which Garner redirected just wide of the right post. Minutes later, Garner fired a shot from 25 yards out that went high and wide.

The pressure on the Wildcat net paid off at the 42:44 mark when Young won a loose ball and sent it into the UNH goal area. Players from both teams fought for control of the ball and in the process, Wildcat fullback Brendan Hankard got his hand on the ball resulting in a penalty kick for the Black Bears.

Sophomore Greg Bajek blasted the free shot into the upper left-hand corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.

UMaine head coach Travers Evans felt his team’s overall effort against UNH was much more indicative of the way they can play in light of the squad’s recent landslide losses.

“We really played more the way that we can play as a team,” Evans said. “We’re not a team that should be getting beat as we have been by anybody. We gave up a late goal and their keeper made a couple of good saves. It could have gone either way.”

Doug Lawyer started the game-winning scoring play by taking the ball away from a Black Bear player at midfield. He passed the ball ahead to Hareld who dribbled by one defender and sent a low, curling shot past charging UMaine goalkeeper Mat Cosgriff.

O’Neil made four saves in the win while Cosgriff turned aside six Wildcat shots.

Despite the loss, Garner said the inspired effort should have a positive effect on the team.

“We played hard and the result didn’t come out like we wanted to but it’s definitely something to build on, definitely something that we can take into our next two games.”

The Black Bears next play at the University of Albany tomorrow before hosting Stony Brook on Sunday at noon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 4th, 2001, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.