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University of Maine women’s soccer junior striker Hannah Breton more than doubled her season point total Thursday with a five-point second half and led a trio of Maine-born players who contributed the scoring in a 4-0 win against Stony Brook University on Senior Day at UMaine’s Alumni Field.
Breton, a Greenville native, scored her third and fourth goals of the season, which opened up a 3-0 lead after the teams played to a first half stalemate. She then set up senior striker Laura Martel of Lewiston for her America East Conference leading eleventh goal of the season in the 78th minute to cap the scoring. Breton started the day with two goals for four points.
“She just anticipates, and she will make the commitment to get to the spot,” UMaine coach Scott Atherley said. “Good things happen when you do that.”
Junior midfielder Kelsey Wilson, from Gorham, put the Black Bears on the scoreboard 1:17 in to the second half with an offering from 35 yards out that stayed just below the crossbar. Senior striker Veronique Fleury assisted on Wilson’s second goal of the season.
“We were dominating them in the first half,” Wilson said. “Once we broke that wall, I knew that more goals were just going to come.”
The Black Bears improved to 7-5-2 (4-2-1 America East). They handed Stony Brook its second conference loss (6-9-2, 5-2-1) in the Seawolves’ season finale. UMaine had redemption on its mind after an embarrassing 5-0 loss at Stony Brook in their last game before the playoffs last year.
“We wanted it more than them,” Martel said. “We were willing to work harder.”
UMaine’s six seniors — Martel, Fleury, Hailey Blackburn, Cristina Di Ielsi, Alli Krous, and Anjelica Hodgson — were recognized at midfield before their final regular season home game.
UMaine won the majority of 50-50 balls in the midfield patrolled by Wilson, freshmen Maddie Hill and Stephanie Frenette-Blais, and versatile back Di Ielsi. The Black Bears dominated the shot total 23-6, with 15 on goal to Stony Brook’s four.
“As long as we’re organized defensively, I think that just helps us offensively,” Wilson said. “Being able to control the ball, not really having to defend, is a lot easier to attack when you’re not running all over the field.”
Freshman goalkeeper Meagan Price-Leibenzeder made four saves to record her third straight shutout. She has six on the season.
“Last year this would have been a tie,” Wilson said. “Those last three games would have been ties, and we were able to pull them out, which I think is really important to boost our team toward the end of the season here.”
UMaine generated plenty of scoring chances in the first half, but could not solve 2008 America East Goalkeeper of the year Marisa Viola. Viola stopped 11 shots, despite injuring a toe during pregame warm-ups.
Stony Brook’s best chance came in the first half when Price-Leibenzeder bobbled the ball in the goal box, creating vulnerability for a flurry of shots against the Black Bears in the next few minutes.
The Seawolves had another chance during a five minute frame when UMaine played shorthanded as Di Ielsi had to leave the game with a bloody nose. Atherley chose to gamble, rather than lose Di Ielsi for the rest of the half by subbing in a different player in her spot.
“The interpretation of that rule is very iffy,” Atherley said. “I didn’t want to bring her up and then all of a sudden they say, ‘hey, you can’t bring her back in.’ Now we lose her for the whole half. We just move one back, we play with two up top.”
Breton’s first goal at 51:18 was created by a drive by Martel that banged off the left post, and after a second effort was blocked, Breton gathered the rebound and tapped it across the goal line.
“Just expect the ball to ricochet back to you,” Breton said. “You’ve just got to be there.”
Breton’s second tally at 68:17 was a more typical goal, as sophomore Carolyne Nellis sent a cross from the right flank that found Breton to Viola’s right, where she put it in at the left post.
“I just saw [Nellis] get a foot on it, and just a perfect ‘pick-me-out,’” Breton said. “It was just right there, and I popped it in.”
Fleury took a corner 10 minutes later that was first touched by Frenette-Blais, and then deflected off Breton in the box before Martel drove it home.
“It just came back to me, and I put it in the net,” Martel said. “The goalie was out of position.”
The lone category Stony Brook held the advantage in was corner kicks, 7-3.
“What you’ve got to love about our conference is I think on any given day, any team can beat any other team,” Stony Brook coach Sue Ryan said. “You’ve got to give credit to Maine. They came out hard in the second half and did a great job.”
