UMaine senior midfielder Laura Martel’s second and third goals of the young season gave the Black Bears (1-2-1) a one goal advantage in each half, but Iona’s speedy forwards caught UMaine in transition in the minutes immediately following each tally.

“That’s been a trend in all of our games so far,” UMaine junior midfielder Kelsey Wilson said. “I think that’s just a mentality that we have to … once we score, they’re not coming back and especially on our home field.”

Martel found herself in the right spot in traffic on a corner taken by Wilson that was initially headed by sophomore Carolyne Nellis and redirected the ball with a header of her own into the right side of the goal.

“[Nellis] was able to get in there, and I was able to deflect it off the side of my head,” Martel said. “The goalie kind of went the wrong way.”

Wilson took nine corners in the game, while Iona earned just one in each half. UMaine also outshot the Gaels 24-7. Freshman goalkeeper Meagan Price-Leibenzeder made just two saves in the contest for the Black Bears, while Iona’s Suzanne Baldissard stopped six.

“We did have a lot of opportunities,” Wilson said. “It would be nice if we could put probably a few more of those in, but I think that just creating the opportunities is probably a good start right now, and I think the finishing will come when we really do need it — once conference play starts.”

Martel led UMaine with seven shots. Wilson and sophomore striker Courtney Harnais each had four.

“When you statistically have somebody like that, you’ve got to bury them,” UMaine coach Scott Atherley said.

Martel’s goal at 8:30 of the first half was answered 5:05 later by Iona’s Gabriella D’Aprile. Midfielder Lisa Murer made the run to the right corner of the penalty box and centered to striker Carly Villanova, who continued the ball across for D’Aprile to boot it inside the far post.

The Black Bears played more physically in the second half and Martel was able to generate space and get behind Iona’s defense to beat Baldissard to the lower left corner for her second goal in the 71st minute.

“First touch, it couldn’t have gone any better,” Martel said. “It went right off my foot, the goalkeeper came out, I saw a spot and placed the ball right in the back of the net.”

Baldissard made her first start of the season for the Gaels, who struggled to a 1-3 start with seven goals allowed.

Iona’s second response came just 2:17 after Martel’s go-ahead goal. Price-Leibenzeder got in the way of a close range shot by Iona’s Caitlin Steinberg, but could not control the rebound before Mariel Pepe took advantage.

“That’s their style,” Atherley said. “They kind of sit in, they hang in there, and they wait to counter against you and they were effective at it.”

UMaine generated five shots in the second 10-minute overtime period, culminating with a breakaway down the right side of the field by Martel in the final minute that Baldissard intercepted before freshman midfielder Josee Descoeurs could get a foot on the centering pass.

Atherley was disappointed the Black Bears could not hold the lead at home, but emphasized patience is necessary early in the season with a team still unfamiliar with each other. Descoeurs and fellow freshman midfielder Maddie Hill impressed their coach and saw significant time. Descoeurs had a shot on goal.

“I saw some really promising things from some of my new players,” Atherley said. “Probably our biggest deficiency in the game is we fed the keeper. We never eliminated the goalkeeper with our service.”

“There’s things I’m pleased and encouraged about, and there’s other things that we need some work on, as you would expect at this time of year,” Atherley said.

The Black Bears are back on the road for their next two contests, and will return to Alumni Field on Sept. 20 when they host Northeastern University at 1 p.m.