The University of Maine field hockey and women’s soccer teams played postseason conference games on Sunday afternoon. Soccer was at home in a rematch with rival UNH, while field hockey was on the road at UMass-Lowell in America East quarterfinal matchups.
At Wicked Blue Field in Lowell, Massachusetts- Brynn Dzengelewski scored a game winning third quarter goal, as #5 seeded Maine field hockey held on to defeat #4 UMass-Lowell 4-3.
The Black Bears took a quick 2-0 lead in the first quarter, as Eloise Penty converted a penalty stoke at 3:58 and Saylor Kuefler scored on an assist from Zoe Furber at 7:35. The Riverhawks fought back to tie it on two tallies by Madison Leeper. The first one came with 3:29 left in the first, and the second made it 2-2 just 38 seconds into the third period. Maine jumped back in front for good just 1:01 after the second Leeper goal when Nicole Kowalewski found the back of the net on an assist from Penty. Dzengelewski had that eventual game winner in the 43rd minute, with an assist going to Taylor Katsube. Karlijn Kerkhof scored 1:05 later for UMass-Lowell, but then the teams went scoreless in the fourth quarter as the guests held on for the victory to advance to the semifinals.
Penty had a goal and an assist, and Rozarie Mrazova made six saves in net for Maine. The Black Bears outshot UMass-Lowell 26-16 (18-9 on goal). Veerle Mous had an outstanding 14 saves in the loss for the Riverhawks, who ends their season with a record of 8-10. Maine (7-11) will now travel to #1 Vermont (10-7) for a semifinal match on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m.
At the New Balance Track & Field and Soccer Complex in Orono- The #4 Maine women’s soccer team scored twice in the second half getting a game winner from Gillian Rovers, as they rallied past rival #5 UNH 2-1 in a rematch of a regular season finale that was played in Orono on Thursday.
The Black Bears, who had beaten the Wildcats by the same 2-1 score in that regular season finale to gain home field, fell behind 1-0 as UNH had the only goal of the first half on a tally from Shya Walker on an assist from Abbi Maier in the 39th minute. Jordane Pinette would find the equalizer for Maine early in the second half. Julie Lossius sent one towards Pinette in the box at the right post, and Pinette directed a left footed kick that would hit the crossbar but she would follow it up by heading her own rebound into the net in the 46th minute. The game winner came on a corner kick, as the ball would cross through the top of the box and find the foot of Madison Michaud (Gorham) to the right of Wildcats goalie Sonja Zeepvat. Michaud got control before firing one on net that was deflected off the foot of Rovers behind Zeepvat with 23 minutes remaining. The Black Bears thwarted some UNH chances the rest of the way and held on to advance to the semifinals in trying to defend their back to back America East Titles.
Zeepvat would make seven saves in the loss for New Hampshire, as they end their season with a record of 4-6-7. The assist credited to Michaud on the game winner was her first point of the season for Maine, while the goal by Rovers was her first goal and point of the year. Elena Barenberg stopped three shots in net. The Black Bears (5-7-3), who outshot the Wildcats 21-10 and 9-4 on goal, will now will travel to #1 Binghamton (10-1-5) in the semifinal round at 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. With the victory on Sunday, Maine head coach Scott Atherley picked up career win number 200. He is just the second coach in America East history to reach the 200 win plateau with one program.
Photos in this story are courtesy of UMaine Athletics
