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UMaine field hockey loses away, wins at home

By Riley Donovan

Posted on Monday, October 27th, 2003, 12:00 am

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Anna-Maria Easley

Anna Maria Easley

ROLL WITH IT - With the goalie down, Black Bear Karly Bundy dodges University of Vermont players and heads for the the net. The team won the home game against UVM but lost on Friday in overtime against the University of New Hampshire.

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The University of Maine field hockey team was defeated by New Hampshire on Friday 3-2 in overtime in Durham. The game ended 9:21 into the extra period when Brittany Schneider scored on a penalty shot for the Wildcats. The game was a heartbreaker for Maine and it could have easily gone the other way. Maine bounced back from their loss in Durham on Friday to get a big conference win at home Sunday against Vermont 2-0.

Maine went to New Hampshire looking to improve on their 2-1 conference record and played a strong game against a very powerful New Hampshire team. Maine got on the board first when junior Rachael Hilgar scored 22:58 into the game. Senior captain Karly Bundy assisted on the play. UNH fired back at the 29:27 mark with a goal by Katie White, to tie the game at one. The score was 1-1 at halftime and stayed that way until 58:51 into the game when Hilgar scored on a breakaway, unassisted. It was her second goal of the game and her 11th on the season. Hilgar’s 11 goals rank her first in scoring among the Black Bears. Just over a minute after Maine took control of the momentum, New Hampshire scored again and tied the game again, on a goal by Sam Carr. At the end of regulation the score was tied at two. Schneider finally ended the game on her penalty shot in sudden death to keep her team undefeated in conference play. Maine out-shot New Hampshire 13-9 but New Hampshire held the advantage in penalty corners 8-6.

Maine players were upset with the loss but not with their effort. They will use the game as motivation going down the stretch.

“It was a tough loss,” said Bundy. “We outplayed them, I thought, and we ended up just not coming out on the top in the end. It would have been great to go into the postseason with a win like that but that’s not going to stop us from seeing them again and beating them when it counts. Hopefully we’ll see Northeastern and UNH again.”

“It was very disappointing,” said senior Karyn Magno. “We played together. We couldn’t have played any better. We just didn’t have it go our way.”

“Very disappointing loss,” said Coach Terry Kix. “I thought our team played very inspired and with great effort. I thought we had a great game plan and everybody really stuck to the plan. It’s unfortunate but all we can do right now is use it as a spring board and hope that we can get into the tournament. We actually gained confidence from this loss because we played extremely well.”

On Sunday Maine needed a big win to stay on pace to get a high seed for the America East tournament. They got the win by defeating Vermont 2-0 on a cold and windy day in Orono. They came through big defensively and allowed the Catamounts to take just one shot all day. Maine’s first goal came 20:24 into the first half when sophomore Shaunessy Saucier scored her second goal of the season. She was assisted by senior tri-captain Karyn Magno on the goal. Maine scored again at the end of the game on a penalty corner when Magno assisted on a goal by senior tri-captain Jana Ouellette to give Maine the 2-0 win. Maine outplayed Vermont in every aspect. They outshot the Catamounts 26-1 and held the overwhelming advantage in penalty corners 17-0.

Coach Kix said she was pleased with the win and her team’s play.

“We played a very nice passing game today. We executed our corners very well,” said Kix. “Their goalkeeper played extremely well. We struggled in finding the net today but we generated a lot of offense and we had tons of opportunities. It was a great team defensive game. I think a big part of that was that our offense really dominated possession. We did a good job of controlling the ball and controlling possession.”

Ouellette was happy to add a goal late in the game.

“I’d been working really hard the whole game and when I finally got the ball I just turned and shot and it felt really good because I hadn’t in a long time,” said Ouellette.

On Saturday, Nov. 1 Maine will host Albany in their regular season finale. The game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. on Morse field in Orono. It is a game that Maine will need to win to get the number two or three seeding.

The players are aware of how big their final game is.

“It’s probably the biggest game of our season,” said Ouellette.

“We’re at home. It’s the seniors’ last game,” said Magno. “We should win hopefully.”