ORONO — It was a case of deja vu.
The University of Maine’s field hockey team earned its first America East championship and NCAA Tournament berth with a 2-1 win over Albany in a shootout in the league championship game last November. It was the same result on Sunday with more dramatics.
It took a penalty stroke by UMaine junior center back Poppy Lambert with no time left on the clock to force the overtime and then the Black Bears converted all five of their chances in the shootout to post the thrilling win.
In a shootout, each team appoints five players and they have eight seconds to score after starting 25 yards out.
UMaine improved to 6-3 overall with its fifth straight win and the Black Bears are 2-0 in the conference. Albany fell to 6-3 and 1-1 after having its five-game winning streak snapped.
Graduate student goalie Mia Borley made one stop on Albany’s four shootout attempts and that is all it took. Borley had allowed just one goal on Albany’s five attempts a year ago.
Mallory Mackesy, Chloe Walton, Tereza Holubcova and Madisyn Hartley converted in the shootout before senior Julia Ross notched the decisive goal as UMaine had built a 4-3 lead. That rendered Albany’s final attempt meaningless.
Alison Smisdom, Albany’s leading scorer, converted a penalty stroke in the shootout after Floor de Ruiter had been fouled by Borley on her attempt. Julie Rodijk and Charlotte Triggs also scored in the shootout but Smisdom had her own attempt kicked out by Borley with her left pad.
“She did the same thing in the championship last year,” Borley said. “She took it to that side and then took a reverse shot. I kind of had an idea she was going to do that and I got my left leg on that.”
Borley credited her teammates, saying “going five-for-five in a shootout is incredible.”
All of them stickhandled cleverly and showed composure before pulling the ball to Albany goalie Hannah Mangan’s left and flipping it into the cage.
Albany was on the edge of a victory thanks to a deRuiter goal in the third period.
The Great Danes had possession of the ball in the final 10 seconds but a player kicked it over the end line to give UMaine a penalty corner. Lambert fired a shot off the penalty corner but it hit an Albany foot en route to the cage so UMaine was awarded a penalty stroke.
Lambert made no mistake with a high shot to the stick side of Mangan.
“That is real challenging, mentally, but you have to trust yourself and be confident. It put it to my favorite spot,” said Lambert, whose goal was her sixth of the season.
Borley had forced the shootout with a left toe save off a bullet from Triggs in the waning seconds of the second overtime. The ball was headed for the bottom right corner of the goal.
“I thought I broke my toe,” Borley grinned.
DeRuiter opened the scoring 5:42 into the third period with a scintillating sprint down the right flank followed by a chest-high reverse shot past Borley.
The Great Danes built momentum off the goal and carried the play the rest of the way, outshooting UMaine 17-5 over the final two periods and two overtimes.
But reigning America East Goalkeeper of the Year Borley made some critical saves among her 14 on the afternoon and her teammates defended well in front of her, limiting Albany’s high-percentage chances.
“This was a tough one,” said Albany coach Phil Sykes. “I thought we were five to six goals better than Maine but the ball reacts differently on this field. The field isn’t adequate. It’s frustrating.
“But give Maine credit for fighting back,” said Sykes, whose team outshot UMaine 20-9.
Mangan made three saves.
Pivotal play: Lambert’s penalty stroke goal forced the overtime. If she hadn’t converted, Albany would have won 1-0.
Takeaway: This could be the conference final again this season. Albany has a lot of speed and skill and did an exceptional job intercepting UMaine passes and making stick tackles to gain possession. UMaine has good scoring balance and one of the nation’s best goalkeepers and will continue to improve. The Black Bears overhandled the ball at times but should be able to rectify that.
What’s next: UMaine visits UMass Lowell for a 3 p.m. game on Friday and Albany hosts Vermont at 2.
