ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s soccer team will host five regular season home games as well as a contest in Saco in the upcoming season as it looks to improve on its America East semifinal finish a year ago.
“Our 2016 schedule is balanced,” Maine coach Scott Atherley said in a news release Friday announcing the schedule.
“Most of our non-conference opponents are quite familiar to us and each will present unique challenges as we ready ourselves for conference play. With half our rosters comprised of new players, we managed to avoid playing midweek games,” Atherley added. “We also built in a small break between our non-conference and America East games. I anticipate we will welcome having the opportunity to reflect, revisit and regenerate as we head into the home stretch of our season. I am really looking forward to watching our team grow and develop over the course of the season.”
Atherley’s squad returns 12 letterwinners and welcomes 12 newcomers to a team which finished 9-8-2 overall and 4-3-1 in America East play, good for fifth place. Maine returns two of its top three scorers in America East Rookie of the Year Vivien Bell (3 goals, 5 assists) and America East All-Rookie selection Anetra Byfield (4 goals).
The Black Bears finished 2015 with a 7-1-1 on their home turf.