Claudia Dube-Trempe, the America East Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014 and an All-AE second team selection last fall, will not return to utilize her final season of eligibility at the University of Maine next fall.
Maine coach Scott Atherley said Dube-Trempe graduated this spring.
Dube-Trempe is from Chambly, Quebec, and Atherley explained that under Quebec educational guidelines, if a student wants to attend a four-year college, they must attend a cegep for two years after completing their junior year of high school.
A cegep is a pre-university college. Dube-Trempe was able to transfer her credits from her second year of cegep to her UMaine academic record, enabling her to graduate this spring.
Atherley said he has known for a year that she wasn’t going to return and that she was upfront with him about her desire to graduate and leave.
“Because of her age, she really connected with our senior class. She thought of herself as a member of our senior class. It was a natural thing,” said Atherley, who will be in his 18th season in the fall.
Atherley said she will be missed.
“She really represented the complete package as a goalkeeper,” said Atherley. “She had great size, she was 6 feet tall, and had a very commanding presence. She was able to cover a lot of ground because she was so quick and athletic.
“Her greatest quality was her feet,” he added. “She was, arguably, the best distributor of the ball of any goalkeeper I’ve ever had. I haven’t had many field players who could strike the ball with as much precision as Claudia. Her ability to hit a ball far and with accuracy enabled her to relieve pressure and launch counter-attacks.”
Dube-Trempe had six shutouts, a 0.97 goals-against average and an .832 save percentage last fall after notching seven shutouts with an 0.80 GAA and a .849 save percentage in 2014, when she was the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year and an All-AE first-team selection.
Maine had two freshmen goalkeepers in Samantha Cobotic and Sarah Gisler.
Cobotic appeared in two games, allowing three goals and making four saves in 96:29 of action.