The defending America East Champion and #22 University of Maine Field Hockey team opened their 2022 season this weekend with a pair of games played at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Maine would fall to the host #25 UMass on Saturday afternoon in overtime, before dropping a contest on Sunday to #1 and defending national champion Northwestern.
In the opener on Saturday against UMass, Maine held a 3-2 halftime edge before falling in the extra session. After the Minutemen took a 1-0 lead 2:02 into the first quarter, Poppy Lambert evened it at 10:10 on assists from Tereza Holubcova and Madysn Hartley. Dempsey Campbell gave UMass the lead again tallying 6:08 into the second. Black Bears goalkeeper Mia Borley collided with Campbell and was injured on the play (head/neck) and didn’t return to play for the remainder of the weekend. A Maine goal by Mallory Mackesy 31 seconds later made it 2-2, and Sydney Meader scored with 1:27 left in the first half to give the Black Bears their only lead of the two games. The Mackesy marker was assisted by Meader, while the goal by Meader had helpers from Julia Ross and Lambert. Jess Beech had the equalizer for the hosts on a penalty stroke 11:30 into the third quarter, as the game eventually went to overtime. Mali Heberhold would give the Minutemen the win on an assist from Steph Gottwals 7:01 into the overtime period. UMass had an 11-6 shots on goal edge, and a 5-4 advantage on penalty corners. Borley played the first 21:08 in goal for Maine before being injured making one save on three shots, while Mallory Drayer played the final 45:53 making six saves on eight shots.
On Sunday against #1 Northwestern, the Black Bears were able to keep things scoreless up until halftime before the Wildcats exploded in the third quarter to get a 5-1 win in their season opener. Bente Baekers took over in the third scoring three goals in a row. She tallied at 3:31, 10:03, and got the hat trick to make it 3-0 at 12:05. Peyton Halsey added another at 14:20 as they lead 4-0 headed to the fourth quarter. Bhreagh Kennedy got the lone Maine goal 7:48 into the final period, on assists from Lambert and Ross. Beaekers finished off a four goal day 2:08 after the Kennedy tally to finish the scoring. Northwestern had a 25-6 shots attempted edge (11-1 on goal), and 7-3 on penalty corners. Drayer played the entire game in goal for the Black Bears making six saves on 11 shots. Maine returns to Orono and opens up the home schedule on Friday at 3 p.m. against Dartmouth College.
