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![REACHING OUT- Emily Dooling [4] reaches with her stick to steal the ball from the UNH offense during Sunday´s home game at Morse Field. Maine dominated the Wildcats 3-1 in the conference matchup.](http://mainecampus.bangorpublishing.netdna-cdn.com/files/cpmedia/zm900tr7.jpg "REACHING OUT- Emily Dooling [4] reaches with her stick to steal the ball from the UNH offense during Sunday´s home game at Morse Field. Maine dominated the Wildcats 3-1 in the conference matchup.")
The University of Maine field hockey team took the field against rival New Hampshire on Sunday and snagged an impressive 3-1 victory.
Joanna Fernandez and Shaunessy Saucier each scored a goal to lead the Black Bears to the win.
The game was the team’s second conference win of the year. The Black Bears improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the America East. Maine is also ranked 17th in the country. UNH fell to 1-9 on their season and 0-2 in the conference with the lost.
Maine jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage when Saucier scored off of a pass from junior Meagan Connolly. The score came just 2:16 into the game.
Maine scored again at the end of the half on a penalty corner with no time left on the clock. Fernandes assisted on the play which saw senior Amie Dubois find the back of the net.
Wildcat Caitlin Gillen scored her fourth goal of the season on a scramble in front of the Maine cage for UNH to pull within one at 55:50. Fernandes put the game away, however, after she scored her second goal of the game on a late penalty corner, which gave Maine the 3-1 lead. Saucier and senior Emily Dooling assisted on the corner.
Jamie Morin made two saves for the win, and Maine out shot UNH 15-4.
Although the Wildcats have won just one game on the year, they have had a tough schedule and Maine expected a tough game from them.
“I think their record is deceiving,” said Maine head coach Terry Kix. “They’ve played a tremendously tough schedule. I thought we played well at moments, and we executed our offensive corners extremely well, but our passing game wasn’t quite as sharp. We did what we had to do to win the ballgame.”
Fernandes, a sophomore, had a solid game for the Black Bears. She scored her second goal of the season and her hard style of play has impressed teammates and coaches. Her coach was also impressed with her shot over the UNH goalkeeper which landed in the back of the cage for the late game goal.
“[Joanna] is an extremely mature player, very composed, and she has great skill,” said Kix. “It was a a great shot and a very poised play.”
“She’s been playing very well,” said senior Rachel Hilgar. “She’s been getting better everyday.”
Maine scored on two corners in the game. The team knew going into the game what it had to do to score goals against the Wildcat goalkeeper.
“We knew the goalie was going to go down a lot today,” said Amie Dubois, “so just getting it up and over her was really all we wanted to do on a corner.”
Maine knew they had to beat UNH to stay ranked as a high as they are. The rankings come out on Tuesday and the win at home on Sunday may have moved them up.
“We all came out ready and we did really well,” said Dubois. “We outshot them. We out cornered them. They’re a really tough team, and they always come to play us really well. It was a good game. It was crucial for us to win it.”
The Black Bears hope their winning ways will carry over in the next few weeks when they play their next four games on the road, three of which are against America East opponents, the first against Boston University.
Bangor Daily News