The #22 University of Maine Field Hockey team, the defending America East Champions and preseason favorite to repeat, open their 2022 season this weekend with a pair of non-conference games in Amherst, Massachusetts against two different opponents.
Maine will play the host #25 University of Massachusetts out of the Atlantic 10 on Saturday, before squaring off with Big 10 foe and defending national champion #1 Northwestern on the same pitch at Amherst on Sunday with both games set for 1 p.m. They faced both opponents last year as well, falling 3-2 at UMass in the second game of the season and 5-0 on the road against the #5 ranked Wildcats two weeks later. Northwestern would go on to win their first NCAA National Championship over Liberty. The Black Bears of course went on to win 15 games in 2021 (15-7) posting a 7-1 conference record in winning their first America East Title in school history with a 2-1 shootout victory over Albany in the championship game, before losing a heartbreaker in overtime to Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maine opens their home schedule on Friday, September 2 at 3 p.m. against Dartmouth, while the first conference game on the slate will also be in Orono on September 23 vs UNH.
Maine, under the direction of head coach Josette Babineau (16th season), returns fifth year senior Mia Borley in goal, and also return seniors Madisyn Hartley, Hannah Abbott, Julia Ross, Chloe Walton, Sydney Meader, and backup netminder Mallory Drayer. Juniors Poppy Lambert (team leading 17 goals in 2021) and Tereza Holubcova are also back for 2022. The preseason America East poll released on August 11th had the Black Bears repeating as champions, earning six first place votes out of nine for 60 total points. The poll is taken by all the head coaches in the league, who cannot vote for their own team. Albany came in second with 55 points and two first place votes, and Stanford (49 points) was third and earned the final first place vote.
