ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s soccer team didn’t exactly give Le Moyne College of DeWitt, New York, a cordial welcome to Division I.
The Black Bears scored twice in the opening 8 minutes and 46 seconds and cruised to a season-opening 5-0 win over the Dolphins, who are making the transition from Division II to Division I this season.
Junior forward Abby Kramer scored the game’s first goal 6:53 into the game and sent senior sister Kayla in alone for the second goal with a perfectly placed pass just 1:53 later.
Hartford University transfer and graduate student fullback Doireann Fahey extended the lead at the 22:38 mark and sophomore forward Jordane Pinette made it 4-0 with just 4:40 left in the half.
Senior forward Tegan Morrison added a second-half goal.
Abby Kramer, Morrison and Pinette each had a goal and an assist, and Kira Kutzinski made two saves on five shots.
Allison Moreau turned aside seven UMaine shots before being replaced by Sarah Boyea with 10:49 remaining in the contest.
UMaine attempted 17 shots to Le Moyne’s five.
“Our use of the ball was very purposeful. We were very intentional with how we were able to manipulate their positioning. We got ourselves into really good positions and exploited the spaces that we recognized were available,” said UMaine head coach Scott Atherley. “We made great runs.”
Le Moyne coach Zaro Zawisian said he was proud of his players for being involved in a historic first Division I game and pleased that they got better as the game went along.
“It’s a credit to [UMaine]. They are very well coached and very well organized,” Zawisian said. “They executed plays very well.”
UMaine is coming off a 9-3-5 campaign including a 4-0-4 American East record that represented the first time since 2012 that an America East team had gone undefeated in league play during a full season. UMaine was picked third in the America East coaches preseason poll.
Freshman back Luise Reinwald set up the first goal as the Munich, Germany, native chased down a Fahey throw-in and curled in a sliding cross just before the ball crossed the end line.
“I thought it was going to roll [over the end line]. I got kind of lucky,” said Reinwald, whose cross was headed into the far corner by Abby Kramer, last year’s second-leading goal scorer with six.
“It was coming right to my head, so I just put my head down and hoped for the best. I wasn’t really aiming. I was just hoping to put it in,” Kramer said.
Kramer went from scorer to provider moments later when she threaded the needle with a pass which enabled her sister to sprint past defenders, break in alone on Moreau and slip it past the goalie’s right-hand side.
“I saw that Abby had the ball and I knew she was going to slip it right to me, so I was ready to run onto that ball,” Kayla Kramer said.
“We definitely had that sister chemistry,” Abby Kramer added.
Fahey, who is from Kildare, Ireland, made it 3-0 when she sent the ball at the goal from a tight angle with her left foot and it sailed over Moreau’s head into the net.
It appeared to be a cross and Fahey laughed when asked if it was a cross or a shot.
“You can call it a shot,” Fahey said with a chuckle. “It found the back of the net. I’ll take it any day.”
Pinette scored into an empty net after Morrison’s long pass resulted in a collision involving Moreau, which left Pinette with the easiest of finishes.
Morrison capped the scoring by rifling the ball into the net from 10 yards out off a Pinette assist.
UMaine will host Rhode Island on Sunday at 1 p.m. while Le Moyne will travel to play Iona next Thursday at 4 p.m.
