The youthful University of Maine women’s soccer team, which will have 15 freshmen and sophomores among its 21-player roster, has been picked tied for sixth in the America East preseason poll. There are nine teams in the conference.
UMaine will return just one of its top five scorers off last year’s team, which went 7-8 overall and 3-5 in the conference. UMaine finished fifth in the conference and lost to archrival New Hampshire 1-0 in their quarterfinal.
Hartford and defending two-time tournament champion Albany were teams chosen to battle for the title as Hartford received 58 points and three first-place votes while Albany earned 57 votes and had five first-place votes.
Albany and Hartford shared the regular season title with 6-1-1 league marks before Albany triumphed over Hartford in the AE title game 2-1.
New Hampshire was third with 51 points and the other first place vote followed by Stony Brook (45), Vermont (32), UMaine and UMass Lowell (26), Binghamton (17) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (12).
Head coach Scott Atherley, who is beginning his 18th year at the helm, has guided the Black Bears to five consecutive AE playoff berths and 13 in the last 14 seasons.
The Black Bears will be led by second team All-AE defender Kendra Ridley and All-AE Rookie Team striker Kaitlyn Ball.
Ridley was also selected to the AE All-Tournament team for her play in the loss to UNH.
Ridley anchored a UMaine defense that surrendered just 17 goals in 15 games.
Ball was UMaine’s second-leading scorer with seven points on two goals and three assists.
Ridley and Ball are both from Ottawa, Ontario.
UMaine scored 14 goals in 2016.
The Black Bears lost the services of former AE Rookie of the Year and two-time first team midfielder Vivien Beil, who decided to transfer to the University of Connecticut.
The German standout, who led the Black Bears in scoring last fall with three goals and two assists for eight points, is a junior.
However, the Black Bears will regain the services of healthy German goalkeeper Annalena Kriebisch, whose freshman season was cut short by a knee injury.
The athletic Kriebisch was 4-3 with three shutouts, a 0.71 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage before sustaining the injury.
The UMaine women have begun preseason practice in preparation for their opener at home against LIU-Brooklyn on Sunday, Aug. 20 at 1 p.m.