The University of Maine field hockey team enjoyed its home opener Saturday to the tune of a 3-1 victory over Bryant University. The Black Bears captured their second win of the season and first since Aug. 29 to improve their record to 2-5, while the Bulldogs snapped their two-game winning streak and fell to 2-5.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead due to a goal off of a penalty corner from fourth-year forward Rosie Bird, assisted by second-year midfielder Victoria Danby, six minutes into the game. The goal was Bird’s fifth of the year, adding to her team-leading 11 points. Danby added to her already strong campaign of seven points with 12 shots on goal.
Bird’s early goal was put past second-year goalkeeper Emma Cochran, who settled down after the early goal. Cochran ended up saving five of her six opportunities for her first collegiate victory.
A defensive struggle ensued for the rest of the first half, with neither team able to gain an advantage over the other. The Black Bears sent a flurry of shots at fourth-year goalkeeper Megan Hancock late in the half, but could not score and went into halftime down 1-0.
The Black Bears failed to get on the board until the 51:26 mark when fourth-year midfielder Annabelle Hamilton fed sophomore midfielder Sydney Veljacic off of a corner from 27 yards out to tie the game at 1-1.
Hamilton led the attack just minutes later off of another penalty corner, this time to junior midfielder Nicole Sevey, in a nearly identical goal to give the Black Bears a 2-1 lead. The pair of assists gave Hamilton six points on the season, while the goal was Sevey’s third on the year to tie her for the team lead.
The Black Bears got an insurance goal at 62:35 when fourth-year forward Holly Stewart broke free off of a steal and took it coast-to-coast, hammering it home off of Hancock’s blocker to ensure a UMaine home victory.
Stewart’s goal was her third of the season, giving her six total points scored.
The Black Bears recorded a season-high 22 shots on goal Saturday afternoon, scoring on three of them.
The Black Bears will host Providence College Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. and Quinnipiac University Sept. 28 at noon. Bryant returns home next week to take on the University of California, Davis Sept. 25 at 4 p.m.