The University of Maine field hockey and women’s soccer teams finished their regular season on Thursday. Both of them have made it into the America East Tournament, as field hockey will be on road and women’s soccer will have a rematch at home in quarterfinal games this weekend.
In the field hockey game in Burlington, Vermont- The host Catamounts held the Black Bears to just one shot on goal, and scored three times in the third quarter as part of a 4-1 victory.
After a scoreless first half, Vermont broke the stalemate with a goal from Consu De castro 4:10 into the third quarter. Gabby Santini scored the game winner later in the period. Addie Delorefice and Veerle Nijhuis had the other tallies for the Catamounts, who finish the regular season at 10-7 at 4-1 in America East. UVM gets the #2 seed and a bye in the first round of postseason and will host a semifinal next Tuesday. Eloise Penty had the goal for Maine on assists from Saylor Kuefler and Brynn Dzengelewski, while Rozarie Mrazova made 10 saves in net. The Black Bears end their regular season at 6-11 and 1-4 in the conference, and will be the #5 seed in the league tournament and will travel to #4 UMass-Lowell for a quarterfinal on Sunday at 12 p.m.
In the women’s soccer game at the New Balance Track & Field and Soccer Complex in Orono- Luise Reinwald scored a game winner in the 64th minute, as Maine in a must win game to host a quarterfinal playoff held on to defeat UNH 2-1. The two teams will now meet in a rematch in postseason this coming Sunday.
The Black Bears got a break to open the scoring in the first half when a centering pass by Britta Denny was deflected by the Wildcats into their own net in the 33rd minute. The game winning play started on a long shot by Julie Lossius that hit the top of the crossbar. In the scrum for the loose ball in the box, Reinwald was able to find it in front and sent a left footed kick into the net. UNH converted on a penalty kick in the 73rd minute by Abbi Maier, but were unable to find the equalizer. Sonja Zeepvat made four saves in the loss for the ‘Cats, who end up as the #5 seed with a record of 4-5-7 and 2-2-4 in America East. Elena Barenberg made six stops in net for the Black Bears. Maine is the #4 seed with a record of 4-7-3 and 3-3-2 in league play. It’ll be Black Bears and Wildcats part two in the America East quarterfinals this coming Sunday in Orono at 12 p.m.
In a pregame ceremony, the University of Maine women’s soccer program retired jersey #12 in honor of Abby Kraemer. The only All-American in program history, Kraemer ended her career as a two-time All-American and the first two-time All-American from the America East in 25 years. In 68 career games (all as a starter) from 2021-2024, Kraemer had 32 goals and 12 assists for a total of 76 points. She also had 11 career game winning goals with six of those coming during the 2023 season.
