Sports

Field hockey cruises past Big Green

Adam Clark | The Maine Campus

By Maeghan Connor

Posted on Sept. 10, 2009, at 1:28 a.m.

It was a high-scoring contest at the University of Maine field hockey complex this past Sunday as the Black Bears defeated Dartmouth College 9-4.

UMaine improved their record on the new season 2-1, while Dartmouth fell to 0-1.

Both teams came out fighting, but UMaine notched the first goal at 6:26 when Courtney Veinotte got one by Dartmouth goalkeeper Meagan Vakiener on an assist by Brittney Cummings.

It wasn’t long before the Black Bears got on the board again when reigning America East Rookie of the Year Kelly Newton passed it off to Jocelyn Mitchell at the corner who knocked it in for a 2-0 lead.

Dartmouth fought back and used a penalty corner to their advantage when Kelly Hood drove one up into the net on the shared assist by Kelly McHenry and Rebecca Sobel. At 23:34, the Big Green tied it up on a breakaway by Meghan Everett.

Just a few minutes later at 26:52, Stephanie Gardiner took a pass from Mitchell down the field where she drove the ball down low to give UMaine the 3-2 lead.

Two penalty corners within the next few minutes resulted in two more Maine goals, both off the stick of Ellen Andrews, to increase the lead to 5-2.

The Big Green fought back and at 40:53 Sobel drove in a pass from Hood to close the gap to 5-3. The UMaine offense continued their attack though and scored twice more at 42:18 and 45:01 by Maire Dineen and Gardiner.

At 51:02, Dartmouth’s Sobel knocked one in off a scramble in front of the goal to once again close the gap to 7-4, but that was the end of the scoring for the Big Green.

UMaine responded with another pair of goals in the final ten minutes of the game, including Mitchell’s second goal of the day, and a Lelia Sacre drive off a corner play to finish off the scoring at 9-4.

Despite what the score might portray, both goalies had their share of great saves: still the Black Bear defense held Dartmouth back, limiting them to only 15 shots on goal, while Fleck saved eight. Vakiener faced a barrage with 41 shots on goal and 23 saves.

UMaine head coach Josette Babineau was pleased by the team’s performance and high score, but was sure that the team didn’t let down.

“I feel like we began to wear on the other team, but they were still explosive, so I wasn’t really comfortable at any point with the score,” she said.

“We are a hard working team, so we play hard from beginning to end,” Mitchell added.

The defense’s aggression was something that also weighed heavily in the game’s outcome.

“That’s definitely the style of play we try to have with the defense, and I think that was the key to the game, we wore them out,” Babineau said.

It’s early in the season for the Black Bears, but not too soon to set their sights to the future and the chance at the America East playoffs.

“I definitely think we have a talented group this year,” Babineau said. “We want to compete in the conference just like any other conference team and set up for a good semifinals game. We are trying to prepare for October for the conference playoffs.”