Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 21, 2012

Maine Colleges: Black Bears routed by St. Lawrence again

From staff reports

ORONO - They changed their jerseys from dark blue to white.

They changed their starting lineup from veterans to youngsters.

Still, the University of Maine Black Bears could not change their inability to score with any consistency. They fell 5-1 Saturday night at Alfond Arena, losing big for the second time this homecoming weekend to St. Lawrence.

"I saw a better effort," said Maine Coach Tim Whitehead. "But I saw the same result."

At least the Black Bears averted a third shutout in five games. A Mark Nemec slap shot from inside the blue line early in the third period ended a string of scoreless futility at Alfond stretching back more than seven periods, to early in the opening 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac.

Nemec's goal made it 3-1 and sent a charge through what remained of a crowd of 4,689, but St. Lawrence quieted the building with two more goals.

Greg Cayer and Kyle Flanagan each scored twice and Kyle Essery once for St. Lawrence (3-1). Maine (1-4) has managed only two goals in three home games.

The Black Bears played better than they did in what captain Joey Diamond called an "embarrassing" 5-0 loss Friday night, but St. Lawrence goalie Matt Weninger once again turned away nearly every Maine shot. Or, on two occasions when Diamond and Stu Higgins seemed to be shooting at an empty net, a St. Lawrence defenseman slid in to deny the Black Bears.

Maine's power-play woes continued. The Black Bears are 0 for 26 with a man advantage this season after going 0 for 14 against St. Lawrence.

The Black Bears open their Hockey East schedule with a two-game series next weekend at Providence.

WOMEN'S HOCKEY

CONNECTICUT 3, MAINE 2: Kayla Campero scored from Kiana Nauheim 50 seconds into overtime to lift the Huskies (1-4-1) over the Black Bears (0-3) at Orono.

Audra Richards and Brittany Dougherty scored for UMaine.

FIELD HOCKEY

USM 4, FITCHBURG STATE 3: Peyton Dostie scored twice as the Huskies (7-11, 4-6 Little East) built a four-goal lead and held off the Falcons (5-10, 2-8) at Gorham.

USM led 2-0 at the half on goals by Dostie and Annabelle Frenette. Dostie and Stephanie Lomasney scored in the first 8:03 of the second half.

ALBANY 1, MAINE 0: Corrine McConville scored on a penalty corner in the 13th minute, and the Great Danes (9-7, 2-2 America East) beat the Black Bears (9-8, 2-2) at Albany, N.Y.

BOWDOIN 3, TRINITY 2: Cathleen Smith scored the equalizer with 21:17 remaining, and Rachel Kennedy added her second goal of the game less than 90 seconds later as the Polar Bears (12-1, 8-1 NESCAC) rallied past the Bantams (10-3, 6-3) at Brunswick.

UNE 2, GORDON 0: Hannah Tavella and Emily Koehler scored just over five minutes apart midway through the second half to give the Nor'easters (9-6, 6-2 Commonwealth Coast) a victory over the Fighting Scots (5-12, 2-6) at Wenham, Mass.

CASTLETON STATE 3, ST. JOSEPH'S 0: Mercedes Maltbie, Blake Wardwell and Rachel Preusser scored second-half goals as the Spartans (13-2, 7-0 North Atlantic) downed the Monks (8-5, 4-3) at Yarmouth.

MIDDLEBURY 12, BATES 0: Lauren Greer scored three goals as the top-ranked Panthers (13-0, 9-0 NESCAC) cruised past the Bobcats (4-9, 1-8) at Middlebury, Vt.

MEN'S SOCCER

BATES 2, MIDDLEBURY 0: John Murphy opened the scoring on a free kick from 35 yards early in the second half and added a second goal on an assist from Ethan Hirshberg to lift the Bobcats (4-7-2, 1-6-2) over the Panthers (6-5-1, 3-5-1) at Middlebury, Vt.

(Continued on page 2)

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