The University of Maine women’s soccer team is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, and will take on the University of Central Florida at 7 p.m. Friday in Orlando.
The 6-7-4 Black Bears took home their third straight America East Tournament title by virtue of a 4-3 win in penalty kicks at Vermont. UMaine had erased a 2-0 deficit to force overtime at 2-2.
UMaine, the fourth seed in the conference tournament, had previously beaten fifth seed New Hampshire 2-1 and top seed Binghamton 1-0 in double overtime. Vermont was the No. 2 seed.
Central Florida is 11-3-5 and lost to Colorado 3-2 in the Big-12 quarterfinals.
It is Central Florida’s sixth NCAA tournament appearance since former U.S. Olympic team gold medalist and World Cup champion Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak took over as coach in 2013.
Central Florida has five All-Big 12 selections in first team senior forward Liz Worden (7 goals, 9 assists) and second-teamers Rajanah Reed (7 & 3), a senior forward; junior midfielders Honoka Hamano (4 & 5) and Maria Tregansin (0 & 2) and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson (0.79 goals-against average, .830 save percentage, 7 shutouts).
“They will be the best team we will have played,” UMaine coach Scott Atherley said. “They’re solid all over the place. They have no weaknesses. They have athletic players in every position.
Atherley called Worden and Hamano “really dynamic players” for UCF.
“They get to goal pretty quickly on the counter. You have to keep them outside and not let them turn you,” Atherley said.
He said Central Florida pressures the ball aggressively high up the pitch.
“We have to keep them in front of us. We have to put immediate pressure on the ball,” Atherley said. “And we have to stay compact. If we open up and give them space, they will play through us.”
Atherley said the Black Bears will also need to do a good job using their width and finding that quickly in transition.
“They’re pretty organized centrally so if we try to go centrally with the ball, the ball will be coming right back at us really fast,” Atherley said. “We have to stretch their back line in order to open up spaces centrally,”
He said the other advantage to playing the ball wide is that if his players lose the ball wide, it’s easier to defend.
“We’re also going to have to be good defending set pieces,” the UMaine coach added. “They’re good on corners.”
Atherley said it will be important to get off to a good start, unlike their previous NCAA Tournament losses to Harvard (3-0) in 2023 and Wisconsin (3-1) in the last two seasons.
Wisconsin scored two goals in the first 3:27 and Harvard built a 2-0 lead 23:47 into their contest.
Since UMaine hasn’t played the UCF Knights, Atherley said it’s hard to know what they might throw at his team.
“So you have to be able to adapt, read the game and play what you see,” Atherley said.
He said his players are on “cloud nine” after the unlikely third-straight conference title.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Atherley said. “After the weekend, they think anything is possible and that’s exactly the mindset you want to have going into the game.”
Senior wingers Julie Lossius and Jordane Pinette share the scoring lead with sophomore Emma Nicholson with eight points apiece. Lossius and Pinette each have three goals and two assists. On the season stat sheet, players get two points per goal and one point per assist.
Nicholson has missed the last five games with an injury but is expected back for Friday’s game.
Junior midfielders Abbey Thornton from Windham (3 & 1) and Victoria Dungey (2 & 3) each have seven points.
The other starters will be center backs Meghan Bernetti and Olivia Grisdale; outside backs Amanda Clauzel and Hilary Washington; Luise Reinwald in the midfield with Thornton and Dungey; Gillian Rovers as the central striker and freshman Elena Barenberg (1.21 GAA, .746 save percentage, 3 shutouts) in goal.
Rovers is a senior while Clauzel, Bernetti and Reinwald are juniors and Grisdale is a sophomore.
Rockport freshman Britta Denny will spell Rovers and Gorham senior Madison Michaud will also get playing time up front off the bench.
Junior Grace Johnson will get some time in the back and Nicholson is a striker.