ORONO, Maine — The defending three-time America East tournament champion University of Maine women’s soccer team received an early first-half goal from leading scorer Isabella Meadows and a late second-half goal from Sandrine Brault to beat Albany 2-0 in their league quarterfinal series at the New Balance Soccer Complex in Orono.
Third seed UMaine, now 8-5-4, will travel to take on second seed Bryant, 6-6-4, in Sunday’s 4:30 semifinal.
Bryant (Rhode Island) received a first-round bye.
Sixth seed Albany finished at 5-8-3 and had its four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) snapped.
It was UMaine’s sixth consecutive win over Albany and the Great Danes have been shut out in all six.
All-America East first team striker and UConn transfer Meadows opened the scoring just 7:42 into the game.
Back Audrey Palmer collected the ball 30 yards from goal along the left hand side and maneuvered past a Great Dane defender and sprinted into the penalty area before sliding a pass across the front of the goal where the open Meadows steered past Albany goalie Claudia Volino. It was her team-leading eighth goal of the campaign.
Each team attempted four shots in the first half with Albany have a slight edge in play over the final 20 minutes.
The Great Danes pressed for the equalizer in the second half and had an 11-5 edge in shot attempts along with a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
But the Black Bears defended well and Brault gave them some valuable breathing room when she pounced on a loose ball off a Britta Denny cross and shot it off the body of Volino and into the net for her third goal of the season.
The ball popped in the air and dropped behind the unfortunate goalie.
Albany finished with a 15-9 edge in shot attempts.
UMaine goalie Elena Barenberg and Albany’s Volino each finished with five saves.