ORONO, Maine — When a substitute enters a game, it is every coach’s hope that they make an immediate impact.
It took University of Maine junior midfielder Emma Nicholson just 3:49 to put her stamp on the Black Bears’ mutual America East opener against Albany on Sunday afternoon.
Nicholson, who tied for the team scoring lead a year ago despite missing the last six games with a knee injury, scored what proved to be the game-winner with 17:42 left in the first half as the defending three-time league tourney champs posted a 2-0 victory at the New Balance Soccer Complex.
It was her first goal since a 2-2 tie with Army West Point on Aug. 31, 2025.
UConn transfer Isabella Meadows notched her team-high fourth goal and third in her last four games with 29:03 left to provide the Black Bears with some valuable breathing room.
Sophomore goalkeeper Elena Barenberg made five saves for her third shutout of the season and sixth of her career.
She also benefited from the fact the Great Danes hit the post in the first half and the crossbar in the second half.
The Black Bears are now 4-3-2 overall and extended their unbeaten streak to five games (3-0-2). Barenberg and her teammates have given up just two goals in the stretch.
It was their fifth consecutive win over Albany, and all five have been shutouts.
Albany fell to 2-5-1 and had its three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) snapped.
Nicholson entered the game with Bangor’s Teagan Atherley and Camden’s Britta Denny with 21:31 remaining in the half.
Grace Johnson crossed the ball from the left wing into the penalty area and it hit an Albany defender and popped in the air.
The alert Nicholson located the ball and lofted a header over goalkeeper Claudia Volino and into the net.
“It was a good ball in from Grace, and I was in the right place at the right time,” said Calgary native Nicholson, who had two goals and a team-high four assists in 12 games a year ago.
“It was up in the air (after hitting the defender), and no one was there so I just had to get on it,” added Nicholson, who noticed that Volino had come off her line.
“No one was coming for it so I felt this one had to go on target and that there was a pretty good chance it would go in.”
She was pleased about ending her scoring drought.
“It has been a long time coming,” said Nicholson. “Now that I’ve got the first one out of the way, I’m on a good track and I’ve got a great team behind me as well.”
Albany had the wind in its favor in the first half and had nearly taken the lead on two occasions.
Oluchi Njoku fed a perfect pass to Sydney Kofton breaking in down the left wing but Barenberg dove to her left to deny Kofton by snaring her low shots.
A few minutes later, Maddie Eddy launched a powerful swerving shot from just beyond the penalty area that hit the inside of the post to Barenberg’s left and glanced in front where it was cleared by the Black Bears.
In the second half, Meadows extended the lead off a well-placed cross from Denny.
“Britta fought to get there and made a beautiful cross. I took a touch to kind of like take a breath and then finished it,” said Meadows, who scored from just outside the six-yard box.
The Great Danes nearly got one back late in the game when they rang a header off the crossbar off a free kick and UMaine’s Hilary Washington rattled a shot off the crossbar a few minutes later.
UMaine attempted 13 shots to Albany’s 12 and each put five on goal. Albany had a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.
Volino finished with three saves.
UMaine senior co-captain and midfielder Luise Reinwald said they were nervous in the first half with it being their first conference game but, at halftime, “we figured out how we wanted to play against them in the second half.
“We figured it out well and the wind was on our side, which helped out a lot, too,” said Reinwald.
UMaine head coach Scott Atherley said it is good to start out the conference schedule with a victory and “not conceding a goal is really important, too. We got contributions from a lot of players.”
He noted that the wind had a significant impact on the game.
“It put us back on our heels in the first half. Trying to get the ball out (of their defensive third) was very difficult. In the second half, we were very effective with our high press. They struggled to get it out and we had the lion’s share of possession,” said Atherley. “Once our midfield got connected, we really troubled (Albany). We tried to get the ball in the wide areas and we were really effective.”
Albany coach Sade Ayinde said she felt her team competed well.
“We hit the post and the crossbar. It is what it is,” said Ayinde. “We had plenty of chances. When you play Maine, you know what you’re going to get: they’re going to be hard-working and they’re going to play together.”
Both teams will play again next on Sunday afternoon with UMaine entertaining UMass Lowell at noon and Albany awaiting the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 2 p.m.