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Coming off a pair of hard-fought games over the fall break, the University of Maine women’s soccer team returns to Alumni Field this weekend looking to win their way to the top of the America East Conference.
Over October break the team headed to Mass. to play two of the top teams in the conference, Northeastern, and Boston University.
In Friday’s match against Northeastern, the Bears got down early and just couldn’t claw their way back falling to the Huskies 2-1. The Black Bears responded in the second game of the weekend, grabbing a 1-0 victory over Boston University on Sunday.
Northeastern forward Kristen Kowaliak tallied the first goal of the game on a breakaway 20 minutes in to the game giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
The game went back and forth until the 81st minute when Kowaliak tallied her second goal of the match giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead. For her efforts she was named America East Player of the week.
Maine responded just seven minutes later when Heather Hathorn scored in the 88th minute to cut the lead to 2-1. It was Hathron’s seventh goal on the year. The goal was too little too late, and the Black Bears fell to 1-2-0 in America East play for the year.
Like they have all season, the team responded to the loss with a win Sunday against America East powerhouse Boston University in a rematch of the 2003 America East Championship.
The Terriers were able to outshoot Maine 10-2, an achievement few teams have achieved against the Black Bears this season. In the match, Maine goalkeeper Tanya Adorno stopped every shot she faced and collected her sixth shutout of the year and her 16th of her collegiate career. With the shutout, she is one shy of tying the schools career shutout record of 17 set by Naomi Welsh from 1999-2002.
The game went back and forth throughout the first half and ended in a 0-0 tie. In the 61st minute of the game, UMaine forward Erin Corey scooted through the box picking up the ball at the six yard line and cracking a shot into the lower corner giving UMaine a 1-0 lead.
The Bears shut down the flow and controlled the pitch for the remainder of the half, stopping BU’s chances left and right.
The win moves the Bears to 8-4-1 overall and 2-2-0 in the America East Conference, placing them in the middle of the pack with Boston University, the University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire. These teams all have a 2-2 record in conference play, making the final five regular season games all the more meaningful.
The key for UMaine this weekend will be what has been strongest for them all season: defense. The Bears boast one of the top goalies in the conference with Tanya Adorno. She has seen the least shots in the conference, as well. This doesn’t take away from her greatness, more importantly it shows how strong UMaine is defensively.
On Friday, the Black Bears face Hartford who is number two in the conference with a 2-1-1 record and a 3-7-2 record overall. Hartford is coming off a sweep over the weekend against Stony Brook and Albany, both of which were on the road. Their season has otherwise been painful with a diffcult non-conference schedule where they recieved losses to St. Johns, Boston College and Connecticut, all of the Big East.
On Sunday, Maine hosts the University of Vermont, who with a 7-5-1 record overall are a challenge for the Black Bears. They have America East’s top goal scorer with Amy Cochran, who with 12 goals in 13 games has passed Maine’s Marie-Andree Canuel for goals per game average. Cochran leads the league in most points-per-game and should be the Catamounts main threat to score on the Black Bears.
Maine plays Hartford Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Alumni Field.
Bangor Daily News