After losing five out of six games in one stretch, the University of Maine at Farmington women’s soccer team has used a solid defense to go 6-1-0 over its last seven games.
Mt. Blue graduate Ava Amador has led the way with five goals over the last five games, including one in a 4-3, double-overtime victory over Southern Maine on Tuesday. Erskine grad Bridget Humphrey also had a goal against USM, and assisted on the game-winner by Alexandra Crocker. It was Crocker’s second goal of the game and eighth of the season.
Amador also has eight goals this year, while Humphrey has contributed three goals and a team-high seven assists. Another local player, Maranacook grad Sarah Pokorny, has four goals.
The Beavers start seven seniors, but junior keeper Sam Hatch has also come up big, with a 1.62 goals-against average this fall. UMF has two games remaining, and both are North Atlantic Conference games at home this weekend — against New England College on Saturday and Colby-Sawyer on Sunday. Both games are scheduled to begin at noon.
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Colby has won four of its last five field hockey games and now sits at 8-5 overall and 3-5 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Mules have another tough game Saturday when they host No. 2-ranked Bowdoin at noon.
Bowdoin is 11-1, with the only loss to Trinity — a team Colby took to overtime on the road before losing, 3-2.
Colby goalie Sarah Evans, who led all of Division III in save percentage as a sophomore last fall, is eighth in that category this season with an .851 mark. The nation’s leader is Bowdoin goalie Hannah Gartner at .903, but Evans has made more than three times as many saves as Gartner.
Megan Fortier still leads Colby with 11 goals this season, followed by Misha Strage with eight. The Mules have a chance at back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2001-04.
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Waterville’s Jenna Gagnon took a while to get started this season but is definitely making her mark in October.
Gagnon plays field hockey at Simmons College in Boston, and was named North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year last season after scoring seven goals and adding six assists as a freshman.
This year, Gagnon missed the first seven games after coming down with shin splints. Upon returning to the lineup, she was held scoreless in her first four games, but has notched at least one goal in each of the last four games.
Simmons now plays in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, and is 11-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play. The Sharks have a huge game on Tuesday at St. Joseph’s, which is 12-2 overall and also 5-0 in the GNAC. Two local players, Gardiner’s Kaylee Heath and Erskine’s Emily Jordan, have started every game on defense for the Monks.
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You don’t see many stat lines like the one Nicole Sevey has this season for the University of Maine field hockey team.
Sevey, a Skowhegan grad and a junior at Maine, has started all 16 games for the Black Bears, and has taken 10 shots.
However, Sevey officially has seven shots on goal, scoring on six of them. In her career, she has started all 56 games she has played in, and contributed 16 goals, 11 assists and four defensive saves.
The Black Bears (10-6), who’ve won eight in a row, are ranked No. 20 nationally in Division I.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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