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A soggy Alumni Field did little to slow down the offense of the University of Maine women’s soccer team. As the Black Bears steamrolled the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers 7-0 in the America East Conference opener Sunday afternoon.
UMaine senior striker Laura Martel notched a hat trick and an assist as the Black Bears improved to 4-3-1 (1-0-0 America East). Martel leads the Black Bears with eight goals on the season.
“Everything was working for us today and we were able to put the ball in the net,” Martel said. “Putting the ball in the net three times definitely helps out.”
Freshmen midfielders Maddie Hill and Stephanie Frenette-Blais scored their first collegiate goals. Senior Veronique Fleury and sophomore Carolyne Nellis contributed to the rout with their first and second goals of the season, respectively.
After a 4-1 win against Northeastern University last weekend, the Black Bears have scored 11 goals in their past two games. Their conference schedule resumes on Thursday with a matchup in Burlington against the University of Vermont.
“To score 11 goals in two games, there’s nothing to hang our heads about there,” Martel said. “That was awesome. We do have another big opponent coming up. We have to keep this going. We’re just going to concentrate for next Thursday.”
UMBC extended its winless streak, falling to 0-7-1 (0-1-0 AE). They have tallied just two goals in the eight games.
UMaine freshman keeper Meagan Price-Leibenzeder and junior keeper Elizabeth Deletetsky combined for the shutout. Deletetsky entered the game after Martel increased the lead to 7-0 and played the final 30:48. Price-Leibenzeder had to make just one save.
UMaine outshot UMBC 19-8, and just three of the Retrievers’ shots were on goal. UMBC keeper Mo Van Vierah stopped seven of UMaine’s 14 shots on goal.
Martel stressed the importance of taking a conference opponent even with a poor record seriously.
“You don’t want to lose focus,” Martel said. “You can’t let down. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing.”
“We anticipated a harder weekend simply because we know that in a conference game the stakes are very high,” UMaine coach Scott Atherley said. “Anything can happen.”
The Black Bears were able to cycle their reserves in the second half as the Retrievers showed their frustration through physical play. Yellow cards were issued to UMBC’s JoAnne Jackson and Elyse Bilardo. Nearly all of UMaine’s players saw time in the second half.
“Seldom are you afforded to play your bench like that,” Atherley said. “I thought everybody did a great job, top to bottom. There wasn’t a drop off.”
Hill’s goal that opened the scoring 12:20 into the game was unassisted, but might not have gotten by Van Vierah on a dry field. Her low drive from 30 yards out took a dramatic, high bounce in front of Van Vierah and stayed below the crossbar.
“Today is a day where you’re always following the ball. You’re always looking for that skip,” Martel said.
Martel scored her first two goals 10 minutes apart to give UMaine a 3-0 halftime lead. The first came off a cross from senior midfielder Cristina Di Ielsi that deflected off a UMBC defender out front and Martel beat Van Vierah while she was out of position. Junior midfielder Kelsey Wilson fed Martel with a diagonal through ball to set up the second goal on a one-on-one with the keeper.
Frenette-Blais’ goal just over two minutes into the second half also got some help from the slippery conditions. She gathered a corner kick from Wilson at the top of the penalty box and booted a line drive through the raised hands of Van Vierah.
“I told the team at halftime, if we can get the fourth one, we can really have a go of it,” Atherley said. “The fourth one will get you more. I thought we did a great job of not letting up.”
Fleury and Nellis padded the lead with goals five minutes apart midway into the half. Martel faked out a defender in the right corner and found Fleury in front of the goal at 51:12. Nellis then converted a diving header off a deflected cross by Fleury at 56:12.
Martel completed the hat trick in the 59th minute when she received a pass from senior midfielder Alli Krous and snuck around the last defender before beating Van Vierah with a low shot.
The Black Bears will return to Alumni Field on Sunday to host Boston University, the team that eliminated the Black Bears from the America East Playoffs last year with a 1-0 semifinal win.
