The University of Maine field hockey team would hit the road for two games over the weekend. The Black Bears would face Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island in America East action on Friday, before finishing up in Boston on Sunday in a non-conference match with Northeastern.
On Friday afternoon at Bryant- The Bulldogs rallied from a 3-0 halftime deficit, and stunned the visiting Maine Black Bears 4-3 in double overtime.
Poppy Lambert opened the scoring for Maine 1:22 into the second quarter on a penalty stroke goal. The Black Bears extended their advantage to 3-0 on markers from Maeve Fogarty at 9:20, and by Olivia Geniti at 11:29 off a penalty corner. Bryant began their comeback on a tally by Callie Caito 1:57 into the third quarter to cut it to 3-1. Natalie Griffin made it 3-2 at 3:16 of the fourth, and then with just 4:19 left to play in regulation Linde van Leeuwen would send it to overtime for the Bulldogs. After a scoreless first overtime 10 minute period, Filou Verhoeven completed the rally for her team with the game winner 3:02 into the second overtime session.
Lambert led Maine in the loss with one goal and one assist, while Rozarie Mrazova made five saves in goal. The Black Bears had an advantage in shots attempted 18-11, shots on goal 14-9, and penalty corner opportunities 12-5. Verhoeven had the game winning goal and also had three assists for Bryant, while Eva Boogers also dished out three assists. Sarah Desousa made nine saves in the cage in playing the first half, while Maud van Lierop had two stops and picked up the victory over the final 43:02. The Bulldogs improved to 5-9 and 1-3 in America East, while the Black Bears slipped to 2-2 in conference play.
On Sunday afternoon at Northeastern- Alex Mega had two goals including a game winner in the second quarter in helping to lead the Northeastern Huskies out of the CAA to a 4-2 win over Maine.
Kate Richardson put the visiting Black Bears ahead for the only time with a rebound goal at 5:42 of the first quarter, before Lauren Rowe evened it up for the Huskies less than a minute later on a shot from the circle on a penalty corner. The winner by Mega came 12:39 into the second. Northeastern increased their advantage to 4-1 with two second half tallies, one by Lara Taylor in the third quarter and the second of the afternoon by Mega in the fourth. Brynn Dzengelewski had the other Maine goal on the day with 7:02 remaining in the contest.
Mrazova made five saves in net in the loss for Maine in the first 48:05, while Jayde Temby played the final 11:55 and didn’t face any shots. Mega had her two goals, and Rowe had a goal and one assist in the win for Northeastern. Kristi Merashoff had six stops in 51:41 of game action in the cage, while Laine Cabell had two saves in 8:19. The Huskies are now 10-6 on the season. Maine fell to 9-7, and will take their 2-2 America East record into a conference matchup with Albany on Friday at home at 3 p.m.
