In their first appearance in the America East playoffs since 2016, and in their first home postseason game since 2015, the Maine Black Bears used four different goal scorers on Sunday evening to beat the New Jersey Institute of Technology 4-1 in a conference quarterfinal women’s soccer match at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
#3 seed Maine (9-2-5) took control with a pair of first half goals. Emma Donovan scored in the 10th minute, followed by Saylor Clark 13 minutes later for a 2-0 lead at the break. Briana Andreoli cut the deficit in half for NJIT with a goal with just over 22 minutes to play. The Black Bears put it away when Julie Lossius and Abby Kraemer tallied in the 68th and 84th minute.
Donovan, Clark, and Kraemer all had one goal and one assist in the win. Kara Kutzinski made three saves in net. Lily Bray had the assist on the Andreoli goal in the loss for NJIT, while Samantha Constantine made seven saves in net. The #6 Highlanders finish their season at 5-8-6. Maine now heads to Durham, New Hampshire to take on the #2 seed UNH Wildcats (8-5-2) in a semifinal on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The teams tied 1-1 in Durham back on September 29 in their regular season meeting.
