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By Kevin Gove
For The Maine Campus
With six games remaining against America East opponents, the University of Maine men’s soccer team shares last place in the conference standings with one other winless team. The Black Bears host Hartford and Vermont this weekend in important matches if the team is to have a shot at postseason play.
“The majority of our conference games so far we’ve been real competitive,” head coach Travers Evans said. “We just haven’t been able to get over the hump. Now we need to find a way to win some of those games rather than just being competitive.”
Friday at 3 p.m., league-leading Hartford will visit Alumni Field. The Hawks are ranked fourth in the latest NSCAA/Adidas New England Regional poll. Hartford is undefeated in America East action with a 4-0-1 record. But if history is any indication, the Black Bears may be the team most likely to stop that streak.
“We consistently play well against Hartford,” Evans said. “It’s been good games every time we play them because our styles of play match up pretty well. Hopefully they’ll look past us a little bit and we can sneak up on them.”
Last year’s meeting resulted in a 2-2 tie in two overtimes. Two years ago the squads battled to a 3-3 deadlock.
Freshman Alon Lubezky leads the Hawks with 26 points on 11 goals and four assists. His older brother Asaf Lubezky is second on the team with 17 points on six goals and five assists. Freshman Easton Wilson has also found the back of the net six times for Hartford.
UMaine takes on Vermont, who is 2-6-1 and 1-4-0 in America East, Sunday afternoon. After winning the America East title last season, the Catamounts have been inconsistent this year despite having much of their team back.
“Vermont has been up and down which is surprising because they were the conference champion last year and only graduated two or three players,” Evans said. “By no means do we think that Vermont is going to come in here and lay down. They’re always a team that plays hard and fights hard for 90 minutes.”
Senior Jamie Farrell and freshman Tony Anderson pace the Vermont offense with two goals apiece. Senior Jason Allen also has four points on one goal and two assists.
Last weekend the Black Bears dropped a 7-2 decision at Northeastern and fell at Boston University 4-3. Junior Rob Dow, the top returning scorer from last year’s squad, registered his first points of the season scoring four goals over the two matches. Dow had UMaine’s second tally against Northeastern and posted a hat trick against BU.
Evans hopes his forward’s offensive outburst will continue this weekend.
“We’ve been waiting for Rob to break out and score some goals for us,” the second-year coach said. “He’s a player that I expect to be scoring goals for us. I’m hoping that last weekend will get him rolling.”
More than one player will have to step up for the team because starting goal keeper Mat Cosgriff suffered a season-ending injury to his left knee during the Northeastern match. Preliminary readings indicate a torn anterior cruciate ligament, medial calteral ligament or both, Evans said. Red-shirt freshman Josh Sjostrom and true freshman Adam Maciaszczyk are now competing for Cosgriff’s position.
Forward Greg Bajek will also sit out the Hartford game because he received a red card against Boston University.
UMaine can look forward to playing on its own pitch in four of its last six contests.
“We’ve played much better at home than we have on the road,” Evans said. “We just need to take one game at a time, get ready for that game, play hard and if we do that we can turn things around.”
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