The University of Maine men’s hockey team returned to the Alfond Arena to start off their season against the Axemen from Acadia University on Sunday, Oct. 1. The Axemen have already played four preseason games, including a game against fellow Hockey East opponent, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, losing 4-2. Maine and Acadia had played each other six times prior to Sunday’s matchup, with the Black Bears getting the best of the Axemen with a 5-0-1 record.

Starting between the pipes for the Black Bears was third-year Weymouth, Mass. native, Rob McGovern. McGovern played in 29 games last season, starting in 28 of them, and had a .912 save percentage. He also earned the first shutout of his college campaign against the University of Connecticut. On top of that, McGovern recently attended the 2017 Boston Bruins NHL Development camp. In net for the Axemen was fourth-year Robert Steeves, a Moncton, New Brunswick native. Steeves did not see any action last season.

For the Black Bears, starting on defense was fourth-year Winthrop, Mass. native, Mark Hamilton and first-year Cross Lake, Manitoba native, Brady Keeper. Starting at forward was fourth-year \ Cedric Lacroix of Shefford, Quebec, third-year, from Bloomfield, N.J., Danny Perez and second-year Peter Housakos of Montreal, Quebec.

It was an offensively busy first period for the Black Bears and a not-so-busy period for McGovern. Maine led Acadia in shots and face-off wins, 13-1 and 14-6. Second-year forward Chase Pearson led the team in shots after 20 minutes, with six. The Black Bears had two power plays in the period but they couldn’t capitalize. Acadia also had two power plays throughout the period, but neither of them resulted in a goal.

Two minutes into the second period, Maine went on the power play again. This time, they capitalized. Not even a minute into the power play, first-year defenseman Alexis Binner made no mistake when he put a wrist shot right past the Acadia netminder, making it 1-0. The goal was assisted by first-years Brady Keeper and Adrian Holesinsky.

After 40 minutes of play, Maine still led 1-0. The Black Bears also led shots on goal, 26-7. With 10:42 left to go in the period, Maine made a goalie change, putting first-year Jeremy Swayman, an Anchorage, Ala. native in for his college debut.

“It was fun, it was electric out there, I was really excited. I came in and then had to stop a breakaway so that was a fun way to start the game, it got my head right into it. I was really proud of the guys, we didn’t let them get too many shots,” Swayman said.

In the third period, Swayman came up big when he robbed an Axemen player with only a few minutes into the period. Maine came close when second-year forward Tim Doherty hit the crossbar.

The Black Bears fed off of that momentum when minutes later, third-year defenseman, Rob Michel, put the puck past a sprawling Steeves, putting them up 2-0. The goal was assisted by third-year defenseman Sam Becker.  

The Axemen finally got on the board when they converted on a power play. With just over six minutes to play, second-year forward Stephen Harper blasted the puck past Swayman, making the score 2-1. The goal was assisted by third-year forward Kyle Farrell.

After being under review, Doherty got his second goal of the game by tucking the puck just past the Axemen goaltender. That would be the last goal of the game, as Maine went on to win it. The Black Bears outshot Acadia 40-18.

“I think we played really well. I think the most important part was that we created tempo, I didn’t really feel like they could keep up with our speed,” Doherty said.

“We came out of the gate real well. Even though we didn’t score, we put them on their heels a little bit. There were times in the game where we stopped being discipline and some of our decisions with the puck weren’t the best. We have lots of work to do to be ready for next weekend,”Head Coach Red Gendron explained.

Maine returns to the ice Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7 when they host the University of Connecticut Huskies. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Acadia returns to the ice Friday, Oct. 6 when they host St. Francis Xavier University. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

The University of Maine football team (1-2) travelled to Harrisonburg, Va. to take on the reigning national champions the Dukes, from James Madison University (4-0) on Saturday, Sept. 23.  Unfortunately, the Black Bears lost a hard fought battle, 28-10 with 25,330 in attendance. In last year’s conference play, UMaine fell short to the Dukes, losing 31-20 at home.

The Black Bears won the toss, choosing to kick first. The starting quarterback for James Madison was fourth-year Milford, Pa. native Bryan Schor. Schor was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Preseason Player of the year and was an All-CAA selection. Starting at quarterback for the Black Bears was a red-shirt first-year from Fort Washington, Pa. Chris Ferguson. Ferguson has started all three games this season.

After 15 minutes of play, the game remained scoreless. It was the first time since November 2015 that the Dukes have failed to score in first quarter. James Madison led Maine in passing yards, 61-32. The Dukes also led the Black Bears in rushing yards, 22-11. Both teams finished the quarter with one turn over. It was a great start for Maine third-year linebacker, Sterling Sheffield, from Mullica Hill, N.J., who notched his third career interception and eighth career sack.

In the second quarter, Schor completed a pass to fourth-year tight end Jonathan Kloosterman from Strasburgh, Va. for an 11-yard touchdown. Fourth-year kicker Tyler Gray from Winchester, Va. then completed the extra point conversion, making it 7-0 James Madison. At the end of the half, third-year kicker Brandon Briggs from Saco, Maine completed a 40-yard field goal to put Maine on the board. It was his first career field goal.

At the half, the Black Bears trailed the Dukes 7-3. The Dukes still led the Black Bears in rush yards (62-54) and total yards (186-114). JMU also led in pass yards, with 186. However, both teams were still tied at one turnover.

On the opening possession of the third quarter, second-year running back Josh Mack rushed for 60 yards, leading to a Maine touchdown. Briggs then converted on the extra point, putting the Black Bears up 10-7. Mack had a successful freshman campaign. He was a Hero Sports FCS Freshman All-American Honourable Mention, Maine Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year and a winner of the New England Football Writers Gold Helmet Award.

The Dukes answered back with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Schor to third-year wide receiver David Eldridge from Bealeton, Va., putting the Dukes up 14-10 with 9:12 left in the third quarter. James Madison converted again on a play from Schor to fourth-year running back Taylor Woods. Woods caught the ball and walked in for a nine-yard score. Gray then converted the extra point, ensuing the Dukes’ lead at 21-10.

James Madison continued their momentum into the fourth quarter when Schor found first-year wide receiver Ezrah Archie for a three-yard touchdown to put the Dukes up 28-10 with 6:29 left in the game.

Unfortunately, Maine came up short to James Madison, falling short in total, rush and pass yards.

Maine returns to the field Oct. 7, when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Villanova University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. James Madison returns to the field Sept. 30, when they travel to Newark, Del. to take on the University of Delaware. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

The No. 24 University of Maine field hockey team (4-1-0) traveled to Burlington, Vt., the home of the University of Vermont Catamounts, to take on the Cornell Big Red (3-0-0) in a neutral site game, on Sunday afternoon. After 70 minutes of battling, the Black Bears fell short, losing 3-2. The last time these two teams faced off was in 2015, where the Black Bears fell to Cornell 2-0.

Redshirt fourth-year Emma Cochran started in net for the Black Bears, making four saves. This was her fifth start of the season. Fourth-year Kelly Johnson started in goal for the Big Red, making 11 saves. This was her second start of the season.

Cornell struck first off of a goal by fourth-year Sam McILwrick off an assist from fourth-year Katie Carlson at the 7:51 mark in the first half. The Big Red struck again at 15:28 in the first half off of a goal by third-year forward Isabel Siergiej, assisted by third-year midfielder Gabby DePetro and fourth-year midfielder/back Isabel Josephs.

The Black Bears finally answered back at the 19:32 mark in the first half. Third-year back Samantha Wagg scored off of a penalty corner, assisted by third-year midfielder Libby Riedl and third-year back Emily Hindle. The Black Bears answered again with yet another goal at the 23:27 mark off of a penalty corner from Wagg, assisted by Riedl and Hindle. Both goals were Wagg’s fourth and fifth of the season. Riedl notched her sixth and seventh assists of the season, while Hindle notched her third. Riedl is ranked No. 19 in the NCAA for assists per game, with one per game.

After 35 minutes of the play, the Black Bears and the Big Red were all tied up at two a piece. At the half, the Black Bears led Cornell in shots on goal, 5-3. Three minutes into the second half, the Big Red retook the lead off a goal from fourth-year forward, Krysten Mayers, scored off an assist from McILwick at the top of the circle to put Cornell up by one.

With five minutes remaining in the game, Maine pulled their goalie for the extra field player, hoping it would spark an equalizing goal. Maine ended up outshooting the Big Red, 13-7, but it simply wasn’t enough to beat Cornell.

The Black Bears are back on the field Sunday, Sept. 17, in Hanover, N.H., to take on the Dartmouth College Big Green. The game is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. and can be streamed live. The Big Red will be back in action Friday, Sept. 15 at home to take on Rutgers University. The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m

The men and women’s cross country teams opened their seasons on Friday at home against Army. Both teams fought hard on a breezy day, but unfortunately fell short to the Black Knights. This year marks the third consecutive season that Maine and Army have started off the fall season running against each other.

On the women’s side, there were a total of 25 runners. Army placed the top three finishing runners, with the first-place winner being Samantha Coletti, with a time of 18:50.70, followed by second-year runners Bethany Nunnery and Hannah Deines, with times of 18:55.63 and 18:56.18 respectively.

Second-year Haley Lawrence from Ellsworth, Maine, came in first for the Black Bears and fourth overall, with a time of 19:02.06. Last year, Lawrence placed 66th overall in the America East Cross Country Championships at Stony Brook.

“I felt great. I trained all summer so it was definitely nice to get this result. The wind was annoying, and I thought about it throughout the race, but I tried not to notice it too much,” Lawrence said in regards to the first race of her junior campaign.

Maine’s next top female performer was fourth-year runner Kaitlyn Saulter. This is  Saulter’s second year of running, having switched from soccer two years ago. She finished with a time of 19:10.51, placing her seventh overall for the day. In last year’s race against the Black Knights, Saulter came first for the Black Bears and fifth overall.

“I’m excited to start my senior season and my second year of running. I definitely did better today than in my trial runs last week but there’s definitely some work to do for this season,” Saulter said.

The women’s team gained five new first years: Sara Hunt, who finished 22nd, Emma Jourdain, who finished 11th, Kayla Livingston, who finished 24th and Cassandra Lucci, who did not compete.

On the men’s side, the team gained a lone first-year in John Hassett from Castine, Maine, who finished the day off 14th overall.

Fourth-year John Valeri from Army West Point came in first out of 29 runners, with a time of 25:22.5 and an average mile pace of 5:04.5. Second-year Roman Ollar from Army finished second overall, with a time of 25:22.9 and an average mile pace of 5:04.6. Third-year Aaron Willingham from Farmington, Maine, finished first for Maine and third overall, with a time of 25:24.3 and an average mile pace of 5:04.8.

In last year’s meet against Army, Willingham finished seventh with a time of 26:01.06. He also placed 11th overall at the America East Conference Championships last year, helping Maine finish as the conference runner-up.

“It was very windy today, but I’m happy with my result. I’m happy about my 35 second PR, it felt good,” Willingham said.

Maine’s next best runner was second-year Jacob Terry, who finished eighth overall with a time of 25:53.5, followed by third-year Joshua Horne, with a time of 25:54.9.

Both teams are led by Head Coach Mark Lech, who enters his 13th season with the Black Bears.

“I thought it was a good start for both men’s and women’s teams. I was happy with how both our teams competed and am optimistic for the rest of the season. Army always has powerful teams and is a tough first meet for us. Our focus is always on the conference championships at the end of October so that’s where our training always points towards,” Lech said.

The Black Bears’ next competition will take place at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Sept. 9 for the Minuteman Invitational. The women are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and the men are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the UMass Cross Country Course. Army will go on to race at the Army Open in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. on Sept. 15.