By Jacob Posik
The University of Maine women’s soccer team’s season ended last week after suffering a tough defeat to America East conference foe Stony Brook University in penalty kicks. After regulation and two overtime periods, failure to convert penalty kicks ultimately led to the end of the Black Bears’ season.
Although the season is over, the team finished 9-5-5 overall, and head coach Scott Atherley isn’t hanging his head.
“We met our expectations this season, and collectively I’m happy with our performance this season,” Atherley said. “I think our best game of the season was last week against Stony Brook. We haven’t had a lot of success against them, and to give them a game like that, in that atmosphere, it was great.”
The season didn’t start out easy for the Black Bears. Their non-conference opponents were tough, and they battled hard to stay in contention in America East.
“I think we had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country,” Atherley said. “We had tough battles against Virginia Commonwealth and Wagner, as well as our other non-conference opponents, and I think finishing up .500 in nonconference games showed our girls that we can play and contend in America East play. I think we gained confidence in those games, and that made a huge difference for us down the stretch.”
Conference opponents gave UMaine all they could handle as well, but the Black Bears played well against their conference opponents. Beating the University of Maryland-Baltimore County early in conference play during the regular season helped lift the Black Bears in the standings, but some opponents got the best of them, including Binghamton University and Stony Brook.
“We should have won the Binghamton game. All season long I feel like we played better from behind,” Atherley said. “We got up early in that one and played the clock, not the game, and ended up losing. I think we battled better from behind, and sometimes giving up leads amounts to a lack of experience, but that comes for every player.
“We played well in conference. We determined our fate entering the last regular season game against Stony Brook, we just came up short,” he added.
The Black Bears are graduating five seniors, including America East defensive player of the year Maggie Malone. Replacing Malone will be tough, but the Black Bears’ youthful roster should be promising for the future.
“Maggie played great for us all season. Not only was she great defensively, she was probably our best offensive weapon on our back line. She was also a model student athlete. I’m not sure if she was more important on the field or off, from a leadership perspective,” Atherley said.
Even with the loss of Malone, there is still plenty of talent left on this squad. Returning for the Black Bears next season is goalie Lauren Swant, who had an outstanding season in net before going down with a knee injury in the quarterfinal against Binghamton. Also returning are leading goal scorers Eve L’Abbe and Charlene Achille. Not only are these girls talented, but they are doing all they can to get better.
“Most girls on the team study here year round,” Atherley said. “They take classes in the summer and stay here so they can all get workouts in together with our strength and conditioning coach. It’s remarkable the sacrifices these girls are making for the team. They’re great student athletes and have excellent work ethic.”
Even after a heartbreaking loss on penalty kicks, Atherley is anxious and hopeful for next season. With the talent he has returning and the discipline his players are showing on and off the field, another winning season is not out of the question in 2014.