ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s women’s soccer team earned a date with arch-rival New Hampshire in the America East semifinals with a 4-1 quarterfinal win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Sunday night at Mahaney Diamond.
Graduate students Emma Donovan and Saylor Clark and sophomore Abby Kraemer had a goal and an assist apiece and Norwegian freshman Julie Lossius scored her first career goal for the Black Bears, who had 24 shot attempts to NJIT’s five.
Third-seeded UMaine, 9-2-5 overall and unbeaten and its last eight games (5-0-3), will take on No. 2 UNH (8-5-2) on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Durham, N.H. NJIT, which received a goal from freshman Briana Andreoli off a Kelsey Ramos assist, wound up at 5-8-6.
The Black Bears dominated every facet of the game, winning virtually all the 50-50 balls and enjoying a lopsided edge in possession.
“Maine wanted it more,” said NJIT coach Ally Nick. “We didn’t match their intensity.”
“Our mindset was we wanted to be very aggressive in their half. We got off to a good start. We put a lot of pressure on them and getting two goals in the first half was key to us having a little bit of breathing room,” said UMaine head coach Scott Atherley.
Donovan scored her first goal of the season just 10:16 into the game off a Kraemer pass. Donovan flicked the ball over a defender, went around her and guided the ball around back-up goalie Samantha Constantine.
“Emma was the player of the match,” Atherley said. “This was the best game she has ever played here.”
Clark scored her team-leading seventh goal just 38 seconds after entering the game. Donovan fed her a pass down the right wing and Clark cut the ball back to the edge of the penalty area before firing a curling left-footed shot inside the near post past Constantine, who appeared as though she expected the shot to go to the far corner.
Pivotal play: Despite controlling the play and seemingly on their way to a comfortable win, the Black Bears got stunned by the when Andreoli sailed a long ball from 30 yards out that was perfectly placed and nestled into the net off the hand of UMaine goalkeeper Kira Kutzinski with 23:09 remaining for her third goal of the season.
But Lossius answered just 19 seconds later to knock the wind out of NJIT’s sails and all but sew up the win.
Clark took a powerful shot from the top of the penalty area that hit the crossbar.
Lossius was alone in the middle of the penalty area and headed the rebound into an empty net from eight yards out.
“It was an amazing shot from Saylor and I was ready for the rebound,” said Lossius. “That was really fun.”
Kraemer scored her sixth of the season with 5:01 remaining when Clark fed her a perfect pass across the goalmouth so all she had to do was extend her foot and tap it in.
Kutzinski finished with three saves and Constantine had seven before benig replaced by Cassidy Landis with 3:52 left.
Takeaway: The Black Bears were outstanding and their back line of sisters Emma and Myla Schneider, Susannah Gaines and Halle Rogers was immense, consistently stepping up and winning balls to limit NJIT’s time in the attacking third.
Up next: UMaine and New Hampshire battled to a 1-1 tie in Durham on Sept. 29 as Rochester, N.H. native Hannah Bamford got the equalizer for UMaine with 6:13 left in regulation. UMaine had an 18-7 edge in shot attempts including a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal.
