Copyright Bangor Daily News
Winning is contagious. The University of Maine’s women’s soccer team defied the odds by winning its third straight America East tournament championship on Sunday night, earning a come-from-behind win over Vermont in Burlington. UMaine erased a 2-0 deficit to force overtime and won it in a penalty kick shootout, 4-3. UMaine was the fourth seed and the Black Bears had previously beaten fifth-seed New Hampshire 2-1 in the quarterfinals and top seed Binghamton 1-0 in double overtime in the semifinals. They had lost to Binghamton (2-1) and Vermont (1-0) during the regular season. Binghamton went into the semifinal with a 13-game unbeaten streak (8-0-5) and a 6-0-1 home record. There were only two players who started the championship game, Jordane Pinette and Luise Reinwald, who also started in last season’s NCAA Tournament game at the University of Wisconsin. UMaine graduated six players who were chosen to last year’s All-America East first or second team. Pinette was the only returning all-conference player as a member of the second team a year ago. Remember, the Black Bears left themselves in a precarious position when they lost to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the second-to-last regular season game. NJIT went into that game 0-3-3 in conference play. That loss meant UMaine would have to beat New Hampshire in the regular season finale just to ensure earning a playoff spot. The Black Bears did 2-1. The Black Bears were picked third in the America East coaches’ preseason poll although they did earn the most first place votes with four. They went into the playoffs without starting center backs Rebecca Grisdale and Lea Schroder and leading scorer Emma Nicholson. Grisdale and Schroder were lost for the season due to late-season injuries and Nicholson is still recovering from an injury. This team started the season 1-4-1 and was just 3-3-2 in league play during the regular season. But as UMaine head coach Scott Atherley said after the championship game, his team is “resilient and gutsy, and they believe. “And if you have those three ingredients within your team, anything is possible,” Atherley added. But there is also something to be said for the power of swagger and a winning culture. Having won the school’s first and second America East Tournament titles the previous two years, the Black Bears went into games expecting to win. Not hoping to win. They won two of their playoff games after conceding the first goal as UNH had scored first in addition to Vermont. Senior Jordane Pinette more than made up for a disappointing regular season in the playoffs. She had just one goal and one assist in 14 regular season games after notching six goals and three assists last fall en route to second team all-conference honors. But she scored a goal in the quarterfinal against New Hampshire, the superb assist on Victoria Dungey’s game-winner at Binghamton and the first goal at Vermont. Freshman goalie Elena Barenberg made 14 saves in her first three college tournament games including a breakaway save on Vermont leading scorer Lauren DeGroot in the second half to keep it 2-2. Her two saves in the penalty kick shootout decided it. Barenberg was chosen to the All-Rookie team and the only other Black Bear to earn an all-conference berth was midfielder Luise Reinwald, a second team pick. Binghamton had eight players selected to either the first, second or all-rookie teams and Vermont had six. The program’s turnaround has been a dramatic one. UMaine’s appearance in the 2022 America East playoffs was its first since the 2016 campaign and it was its first winning season since 2015. The Black Bears went 9-3-5 overall and 4-0-4 in the conference in 2022 and, despite a semifinal loss to New Hampshire, that set the stage for the three-peat. Two-time All-American striker Abby Kraemer was the offensive catalyst behind the first two championships and Atherley has brought in a number of impactful transfers who earned all-conference honors including Lincolnville’s Kristina Kelly (Central Connecticut State), the University of Oregon’s Lara Kirkby and Anna Phillips and Florida Gulf Coast transfer Emma Schneider. Three transfers started Sunday night’s game in Amanda Clauzel (Memphis), Hilary Washington (Baylor) and Meghan Bernetti (Campbell). And three Maine natives have been important contributors in Windham’s Abbey Thornton, who is tied for the team lead in goals with three; Gorham’s Madison Michaud, who had an assist on the Gillian Rovers’ game-winning goal against UNH, and Rockport’s Britta Denny, who had one goal during the season and had one of the penalty kick shootout conversions against Vermont.
