ORONO, Maine - UMaine Women's Soccer travels down to Durham, New Hampshire to face conference foe and rival, the New Hampshire Wildcats in the first round of the America East tournament. This marks the second year in a row the two teams meet in the first round.

Last year the seeds were swapped as #4 Maine hosted #5 UNH at Mahaney Diamond where the two teams would battle to a 1-1 tie that could not be solved by overtime, and the game would go to penalty kicks, in which Maine took the victory and advanced to the next round. 

This year #4 New Hampshire will host #5 Maine at Bremner Field in Durham, 7pm on Thursday October 27th. The two teams come into this matchup as the two youngest teams in the conference with 17 first and second year players. Maine defeated UNH in their previous matchup this season, 1-0 in double overtime at Mahaney Diamond as Viven Beil notched the game-winner with only 3 minutes remaining in the second overtime.

The Wildcats come into this matchup with a regular season record of 6-8-3 and a conference record of 3-4-1. They are led by Junior Brooke Murphy, who was just recently awarded the America East Striker of the Year award for the 2016 season with her 11 goals and 3 assists, for a total of 25 points. She has started all 15 games she's played in for UNH. Freshman Mid/Forward and native Mainer Liz Lane has started all 17 games for the Wildcats this year with 2 goals and 4 assists for the team's second highest point toal with 8. While the Wildcats have seen action from all 3 of their active goalkeepers this year, they've relied on Senior Goalkeeper Mimi Borkan, who has started all 17 games this season, allowing only 20 goals and saving 96 shots on net. She has a 6-7-3 record and 4 shutouts on the year. 

The Black Bears come into the matchup with similar records, 7-8-0 overall, 3-5-0 in conference. They are led by All-Conference 1st-Teamer and All-Academic Team member, Sophomore Forward Vivien Beil, who has 8 points on 3 goals and 2 assits; one of those 3 goals coming against the Wildcats. That game-winner from Beil was assisted by All-Rookie Team member Kaitlyn Ball, who has 2 goals and 3 assists for 7 points. Theresa Gosch has also chipped in this season with 2 goals and assists each for 6 points. Also receiving conference honors this week was Kendra Ridley, who has started all 15 games for Maine and has been a key part of Maine's defense; she was named to the All-Conference second team. She has 2 points this season with a goal earlier in the season. Goalkeeper Samantha Cobotic has started the last 8 games for Maine; she's allowed 11 goals and has 45 saves, and a record of 3-5-0. She has 3 shutouts on the season.

You can see the game live on America East TV and follow the stats live on UNH.com


-UMaine-