The Maine women’s soccer and field hockey teams both hit the road for games on Sunday. The soccer team was at Vermont in America East Conference action, while field hockey traveled to Connecticut to battle Fairfield University in non-conference play.
At Virtue Field in Burlington, Vermont- Maine rallied from a 2-0 second half deficit, and got a game winning goal from Jordane Pinette in the 87th minute to defeat Vermont 3-2.
Maine dominated the first half in shots on goal (4-1) and corner opportunities (5-1), but Vermont scored on their only shot when Aubrey Bough sizzled one from outside the box into the upper corner of the net to the left of Black Bears goalie Jessica Kasacek in the 25th minute. The Catamounts extended the lead to 2-0 in the 60th minute, as Bough took a corner kick that she placed right in front of the net. Kasacek tried to punch it out and missed, and the ball went into the goal off a Maine defender. The guests began the comeback just over a minute later when Julie Lossuis converted off a pass to the backpost from Tegan Morrison. Morrison got her second assist to help tie the game off a corner, with Kristina Kelly getting to the loose ball in front and knotting the score 2-2 in the 82nd minute. The game winner started on a play by Emma Schneider. Schneider tried to pass up ahead, but Vermont goalie Kylee Carafoli came out to play it near the edge of the box. Carafoli tried to pass it out to a teammate with her hand, but Pinette intercepted it and then dragged around Carafoli to the left and kicked it into the empty net to give Black Bears the comeback victory.
Kasacek had two saves in net in the Maine win, with Morrison leading all point scorers in the game with two assists. The Black Bears outshot the Catamounts 9-3, and led in corner kick opportunities 7-3. Carafoli made six saves in the loss for Vermont, as they fall to 5-3-3 and 0-2 in America East. Maine has won four games in a row, improving to 6-1-2 and 2-0 in conference play. They will host UMass-Lowell at Mahaney Diamond in Orono on Thursday evening at 6 p.m.
At University Field in Fairfield, Connecticut- Konni Hoffman scored a game winning goal early in the fourth quarter, in leading Fairfield University to a 2-1 win over Maine in a non-conference field hockey matchup.
Pilar Mengotti opened the scoring off a penalty corner and an assist from Alice Pifferi about seven minutes into the second quarter to make it 1-0 Fairfield. Hoffman doubled that lead with her eventual game winner in the fourth, before Olivia Geniti got Maine on the board just 1:04 later with an assist going to Poppy Lambert off a corner chance. The Black Bears had another corner opportunity in the closing seconds trying to tie it, but a shot by Alexandra Sacker was blocked as the Stags held on.
Rozarie Mrazova made five saves in the cage in the Maine loss. The Black Bears outshot the Stags 9-7, and had a 10-4 advantage in penalty corners which they could only convert into one goal on the afternoon. Pifferi had two assists for Fairfield, and Emily Streib made eight stops in net. The Stags out of the Northeast Conference (NEC) improve to 3-5 on the season. Maine had their three game win streak snapped, falling to 7-4 overall. They’ll host UC-Davis in America East play next Sunday in Orono at 12 p.m.
