ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine soccer team reaches the middle of its America East season at 1 p.m. Sunday when it looks to get back on the winning track with a tilt at Vermont. The game will be broadcast on AmericaEast.tv.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Maine Black Bears at Vermont Catamounts
DATE: Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Virtue Field – Burlington, Vt. (artificial surface)
2017 RECORDS: Maine 4-7-1 (2-2-0 AE), Vermont 5-5-2 (1-1-1 AE)
LIVE VIDEO: AmericaEast.tv
LIVE STATS: UVMAthletics.com
TWITTER: @BlackBearSoccer
 
About the Black Bears
• UMaine traveled to New Hampshire on Thursday night and went toe-to-toe with the first-place Wildcats. The Black Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the second half on a Mikayla Morin goal but UNH tied the game on a free kick goal with six seconds to play and then found the net first in overtime.
• Morin's goal marked just the third time this season that a team scored first against UNH.
• The squad got a 1-0 win over UMBC on Oct. 1 at Mahaney Diamond, with a 15th-minute goal from Kendra Ridley and a four-save shutout from Annalena Kriebisch leading the way.
• The Black Bears opened up conference play with a 1-0 win over Stony Brook on Sept. 24 and then traveled to Hartford on Sept. 28 and took the preseason America East conference favorites to overtime before falling, 2-1.
• Kriebisch (4-7-1) has four shutouts on the year - which is tied for the conference lead - and has a 1.209 goals against average and an .815 save percentage; the sophomore's 5.50 saves per game is third-best in the league.
• Nicole Bailey leads the Black Bears with six points on two goals and two assists while Ridley and Kayla Brace each have five points on two goals and one assist, with both of Ridley's scores going for game-winners.
• Morin and Emilie Andersen each have four points, with Morin's coming on two goals and Andersen's on four helpers.
 
About the Catamounts
• On Thursday night, the Catamounts overcame a 2-0 deficit to force overtime and earn at 2-2 draw at UMass Lowell.
• UVM entered America East play with four non-conference wins over Sacred Heart (2-1), Florida International (1-0 OT), Brown (2-1 OT) and American (1-0 OT).
• Brooke Jenkins and Sarah Martin had the goals for Vermont and sit first and second, respectively, on the team in points. Jenkins has 12 points on five goals and two assists while Martin has three goals and four assists for 10 points.
• Martin was an All-Conference Second Team honoree in 2016 while Jenkins landed on the All-Rookie Team.
• Coco Speckmaier has played all but 45 minutes in goal for UVM, going 5-5-2 with three shutouts while sporting a 1.39 goals against average and a .821 save percentage.
• Head coach Kristi Lefebvre is in her seventh season on the sideline for UVM – a team that was picked fifth in the America East Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
The Series with Vermont
• The Catamounts hold an edge of 9-13-4 in the all-time series with the Black Bears.
• UMaine won last year's contest in Orono, 1-0, on the strength of Genaya Loftis' first career goal and a 10-save performance from Samantha Cobotic.
• The Class of 2018 is 1-1-1 in their careers against the Catamounts.
 
A Win Would…
• Move the Black Bears to 5-7-1 overall and 3-2-0 in America East play.
• Bump UMaine's record in the all-time series to 10-13-4.
• Give head coach Scott Atherley a career record of 148-139-43 at the helm of the UMaine women's team.
 
Stat Line

Category	Maine	UVM
Goals per game	.83	1.25
Shots per game	8.7	14.8
Shots on goal %	.442	.458

 About Head Coach Scott Atherley
• Now in his 25th season as a head coach in the NCAA, Scott Atherley is entering his 19th season as the Maine women's soccer program's head coach.
• Atherley has led the Black Bears to five-straight America East postseason tournaments and to 13 of the last 14 overall.
• In 1993, Atherley became head coach of the UMaine men's team and took on head coaching duties of the women's team in 1999, coaching both squads that year.
• Atherley was a four-year letter-winner at UMaine between 1984 and 1987, serving as captain during his final season.
 
Playoff Spots at a Premium
• With each America East team having played at least three games of the conference gauntlet, a playoff picture is beginning to form.
• UMaine enters the weekend tied for fourth with Binghamton on identical 2-2-0 conference records.
• The Black Bears and Bearcats sit behind Hartford (2-1-1), Stony Brook (2-1-0) and first place New Hampshire (4-0-0).
• The top six teams earn spots in the playoffs, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds getting byes into the semifinals and the remaining four teams playing quarterfinal matches at the home of the higher seed.
 
Andersen's Assists
• Emilie Andersen earned her first career point with an assist on Priscilla Domingo's game-winning goal against Stony Brook on Sept. 24.
• The midfielder has kept on going, and is now on a four-game point-streak after adding assists against Hartford (Sept. 28), UMBC (Oct. 1) and UNH (Oct. 5).
• Andersen's streak is UMaine's longest of the season, with classmate Nicole Bailey's three-game streak earlier this season on one goal and two assists being second.
 
Ironwomen
• Senior defender Amy Falkin and sophomore goalkeeper Annalena Kriebisch are the only Black Bears to have played every single minute this season.
• Both players have logged 1116 minutes through the first 12 games of the season.
• Mikayla Morin and Kendra Ridley have each played over 1035 minutes while Olivia Bamford, Jane Stevens, Emma Cossette and Emilie Andersen have logged more than 900.
 
Three Goals, Three Game-Winners for Ridley
• Kendra Ridley has scored two goals this season and three total in her career, with all three earning the Black Bears a 1-0 win.
• This year, Ridley notched the game-winner against UMBC on Oct. 1 and also gave UMaine a 1-0 win over Marist on Sept. 10.
• The three-year captain scored her first career goal in 2016 in a 1-0 conference win at UMass Lowell.
• The senior earned her first career assist earlier this season against Bryant and has career highs in goals (2), assists (1) and points (5).

First Time Point-Getters
• Priscilla Domingo's goal against Stony Brook on Sept. 24 marked the first goal – and point – of her career, making her the fourth Black Bear this year to net their first career goal.
• Emilie Andersen assisted on Domingo's score against Stony Brook to earn her first career point as well.
• Freshman Olivia Bamford netted the first of her career on Sept. 3 against UMass with her first minute tally while sophomore Nicole Bailey earned her first career helper on the play.
• Sophomore Kayla Brace saved her first career goal for a game-winner, as the sophomore found the net in the 84th minute of UMaine's 1-0 win over Holy Cross on Aug. 31.
• Against Brown, junior Mikayla Morin was able to head home the ball in the second half for her very first tally.
• Kendra Ridley's assist on Sept. 7 against Bryant was the first of the senior captain's career – and her game-winning goal against Marist on Sept. 10 came as a result of the first career assist from Charlotte Messer.
 
International Appeal
• The Black Bears have four different countries represented on the team roster in the United States, Canada, Norway and Germany.
• Maine has three players each that hail from Maine and Connecticut, and one each from New York, Georgia, Florida and New Hampshire.
 • There are three Canadian provinces represented with four players coming from Ontario, three from Nova Scotia and one from Quebec.
• There is a three-payer European contingent, with two players hailing from Norway and one from Germany.
 
Oh Captain, My Captain
• Kendra Ridley will serve as the captain for the Black Bears this season, marking the third-straight year that the Ottawa, Ontario native will wear the armband.
 
Up Next
• The Black Bears will have a week off before wrapping up the three-straight road game slate with a contest at UAlbany on Oct. 15.
• UMaine will then return home to wrap up the regular season against Binghamton on Oct. 19 and UMass Lowell on Oct. 22.

-UMaine-