The winter sports season at the University of Maine just came to an abrupt end for two teams that still had possible playoff runs remaining. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NCAA to cancel all remaining league tournaments and NCAA tournament games as announced by President Marc Emmert on March 12. This article will look back at the highlights and lowlights for a season that just ended for UMaine men’s and women’s basketball, as well as men’s and women’s ice hockey.
Men’s basketball- The Black Bears finished the 2019-20 season with an overall record of 9-22, and 5-12 in America East play. Maine started the season with a 20 point home victory over Merrimack. The Warriors went on to win 20 games, including 14 in the Northeast Conference capturing the league title in their first season of Division I competition. The Bears faced some stiff non-conference opponents including a 19 point loss to #25 Washington, in which they stayed very competitive for 13 minutes of the first half. Maine also went on the road to #7 and defending national champion Virginia and lost 46-26, but was also very competitive for good portions of that loss. The team returned home to capture an exciting 75-72 overtime win over Columbia on January 2nd before getting into league play. The Black Bears dropped their first three games of America East action, before notching back to back home wins over UMass-Lowell 104-98 in overtime, and an 86-63 victory over Binghamton. Senior guard Sergio El Darwich put up 36 and 26 points respectively in the two games. Maine led first place Vermont at home by 11 in the first half on January 22, before ultimately falling by a pair 59-57 on a late layup by the Catamounts with four seconds left. They would finish out the America East schedule with two straight wins, over UMBC at home and a big road win over Hartford that allowed them to finish in eighth place to pick up a playoff spot. The season came to an end at #1 Vermont 61-50 in yet another valiant effort by the Black Bears who were in the game into the final four minutes. Maine will lose El Darwich (14.9 points per game, 5.2 rebounds) and Andrew Fleming (14.2 & 6.2) to graduation. The team does have promise in returners that include juniors Nedeljko Prijovic (10.7 & 5.5), Miks Antoms, and Vilgot Larsson all who saw significant minutes. Promising freshmen Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish, Stephane Ingo, and Precious Ingo will also be back. The Black Bears will also see former Bangor High standout Matt Fleming transfer in from United States Military Prep where he spent his freshman season after originally committing to Army. Former Edward Little standout Wol Maiwen and Sanford standout 6 foot 6 Leyton Bickford are also joining the team. Maine seems to be in good hands with head coach Richard Barron who just finished his second full season at the helm of the men’s program and his 19th overall as a head coach.
Women’s basketball- Maine finished an up and down season with a final record of 18-14, and 12-4 in America East play. The Black Bears would open their season with a 69-56 road win at Delaware helped by returning America East Player of the Year Blanca Millan. Maine would lose non-conference games at Brown and at #14 NC State, and also a home contest to Boston University before bouncing back for a win over Navy in Portland on November 24. Millan would be lost for the season to an ACL injury suffered in the first game of a Florida Tournament on November 29 against Arizona State. The Black Bears would lose to Drake and Dayton that same weekend. The team got some home cooking on December 4 when they blitzed Division III opponent Husson 104-43. In that win, Kelly Fogarty set the three-point record at UMaine with nine made from behind the arc in the victory. The Black Bears followed that with a 29 point home loss to Harvard and also a loss on the road to Dartmouth. One of the most exciting games of the season took place on December 13 when Maine would beat the Phoenix of Wisconsin Green Bay 61-60 in Bangor on a Maeve Carroll baseline jumper at the buzzer. They would finish the non-conference portion of the schedule with losses at home to Northeastern and on the road at Drexel. They got a very strong start to the conference season winning three of their first four over Hartford, UNH, and Albany, with a loss on the road at Stony Brook. They fell to 3-3 when they lost back to back road games at UMass-Lowell and Binghamton, before winning by 18 at Vermont to get back over. 500. In one of the most frustrating and perhaps surprising games of the conference season, Maine fell 74-54 at home to UMBC. The losing stopped there though as the Black Bears won every game from there on out finishing with a 10 game winning streak. Included in the streak was payback wins at home over UMass-Lowell and Binghamton, and on the road at UMBC. They also ended the 22 game win streak by Stony Brook with a 64-62 overtime win in Bangor on February 23. With a #2 seed in hand Maine beat Vermont by 12 in the conference quarterfinals, and then topped UMass-Lowell by 13 in the semifinal round that was played at the Pit in Orono before a sellout crowd. The team was scheduled to play at top seeded Stony Brook on Friday March 13 for the conference title before the news came down from the NCAA. This team that fought adversity and injuries all season under head coach Amy Vachon should be back strong and compete again for their third straight title in 2020-21. America East Rookie of the Year Anne Simon led the team (13 points per game, 5.2 rebounds). Juniors Carroll (13.2 & 8.2), Dor Saar (12.2 & 5 assists), and Fogarty (7.1) all intend to return. Freshman Anna Kahelin who provided depth off the bench will also be back, after an ACL injury also ended her season during the playoff win over Vermont. Maine does lose Calais native Maddy McVicar (10.0 & 4.0) to graduation, but the nucleus coming back with both Millan and Fanny Wadling returning from injury waivers to pick up another year of eligibility could make for a historic year.
Men’s Hockey- The team finished up a real good season at 18-11-5, and 12-9-3 in Hockey East. The Black Bears went 9-3-2 overall in the second half of the season, including 8-3-1 in league play and enjoyed the time at home in Alfond Arena going 13-1-3 on the year. The season started with a bang but not for Maine as they were thumped 7-0 at Providence on opening night. They would return home to sweep Alaska-Anchorage, and would go on the road for a split with #8 Quinnipiac. They bounced back in Hockey East play after the opening night pasting at the hands of the Friars, by winning at Vermont, getting a win and a tie at home against Boston University, picked up one point in a loss and tie at #14 UMass-Lowell, and then came back to Orono to sweep arch rival UNH. The team then struggled down the stretch of the first half going 2-5-1, with their only wins coming over non-conference opponents St. Lawrence and American International College and being dominated in two game sweeps at the hands of both #13 Northeastern and #11 UMass. Maine seemed to really turn their season around when they went to #4 Boston College and won both games in overtime 4-3 and 3-2 on January 24 and 25. They also got revenge on Northeastern with a 4-2 win in Orono on February 7, and then finished the season with a two game series against Providence where they suffered a tough 3-2 loss the first night and got a 1-0 win on Senior Night with a spectacular 48 save performance from goalie Jeremy Swayman. The home win the last night of the regular season would catapult the Black Bears into the #4 seed in Hockey East, as they were set to host #5 UConn in the first home playoff quarterfinal series since 2012 before the NCAA news came down. They will lose their top two scorers in Mitchell Fossier (10 goals, 32 assists) and Tim Doherty (14 & 23). They do return junior forward Eduards Tralmaks (14 & 16), and sophomores Adam Dawe (9 & 11), and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup (9 & 9). Freshmen AJ Drobot and Ben Poisson along with junior Kevin Hock will add depth. The defense is young and played alot of minutes and that core coming back includes freshmen Adrien Bisson and Levi Kleiboer, sophomores Jakub Sirota and Simon Butala, and juniors JD Greenway, Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi, and Cam Spicer. The return of recently named Walter Brown Award winner Swayman is unknown. The junior netminder went 18-10-5 with a 2.07 goals against average and had a .939 save percentage, with three shutouts on the season. The second string backup at the moment is freshman Matt Thiessen who only saw action in one game this season. Under head coach Red Gendron, who at the time being looks like has saved his job, the team seems to be trending up and should be expected to make another run in Hockey East and beyond next season.
Women’s Hockey- The team had a solid season finishing 15-14-8, and 9-11-7 in Hockey East coming one period away from playing in a Hockey East championship game for the first time ever. The Black Bears finished an up and down season as the #7 seed in the league playoffs. Maine would shock Hockey East by going to Boston and upsetting #2 seed and #8 in country Boston University in two straight games in a best of three quarterfinal series. The team got matched up with top seed and #4 Northeastern in a semifinal at Lawler Rink at Merrimack College. The Black Bears held a 1-0 lead after two periods, but the Huskies stormed back for a 3-1 win and would go on to win the league championship the next day. The program is in good hands with head coach Richard Reichenbach, and his wife who is the assistant Sara Reichenbach. Maine returns four of their five top scorers next season in sophomore forwards Ida Kuoppala (19 goals, 14 assists), Liga Milijone (10 & 18), Ali Beltz (7 & 20), and Celine Tedenby (10 & 5). Kuoppala and sophomore defenseman Ida Press (6 & 9) provided some scoring in the playoff wins. The Black Bears do lose senior forward Tereza Vanisova (14 & 17), and senior goalie Carly Jackson. Jackson went 12-11-7 with a 1.90 goals against average and a .934 save percentage, with three shutouts. Her backup junior Loryn Porter will take on the top role next season. Porter went 3-3-1 with a 2.22 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 2019-20. All three of the wins by Porter were shutouts.
