Sports

Field Hockey: Newton, Gardiner lead UM past Bryant

University of Maine outshoots Bulldogs 35-2 in shutout, improves to 3-3 on the season

By Brett Frye

Posted on Sept. 22, 2008, at 12:00 a.m.

Peter Buehner

Ellen Andrews scored the first goal of UMaine's 7-0 win against Bryant University.

University of Maine freshmen Kelly Newton and Stephanie Gardiner have played well so far this year. Each have started their rookie campaigns strong, garnering America East Rookie of the Week honors for field hockey – Newton won in week one and Gardiner in week two.

On Saturday they continued this trend, as they combined to score the first three goals and four total, en route to a 7-0 win over Bryant University.

Gardiner came in after a great showing last weekend in Vermont and started the scoring, tallying the first goal less than three minutes into the game. The goal came off a pass from Newton. Newton then scored the next two for the Black Bears as they extended their lead to 3-0. The first came seven minutes after Gardiner’s goal on a pass from sophomore Maire Dineen. Newton added her second goal two minutes later.

“We played well as a team. We made a lot of good passes,” Newton said. “It’s a good warm up for our game tomorrow.”

“I thought it was a great team win,” added UMaine Coach Josette Babineau. “We gave up a couple corners, a couple shots on net, but I’m not sure if one got on net. We’re trying not to lose focus that October is when it counts.”

UMaine goalie Brittany Fleck only had to make one save, as Black Bears outshot Bryant 35-2.

Sophomore Courtney Veinotte notched the final goal of the first half with 13 minutes left off a corner to make it 4-0 heading into the half.

The Bulldogs held UMaine scoreless for over 20 minutes to begin the second half, but the Black Bears broke through with 13 minutes to go. Junior Ellen Andrews scored off a corner to make it 5-0.

With eight minutes left, Newton completed the hat trick on an unassisted play where she broke away at midfield and scored on her own rebound. Newton’s goal pushed the score to 6-0.

UMaine finished off the scoring with just under six minutes left in the game when junior Jackie D’Amato scored off a corner. Newton tallied another assist on the play for her eighth point of the game.

UMaine improves to 3-3 on the season while Bryant falls to 1-6.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.