ORONO, Maine — For 80 minutes of Thursday night’s home opener against Merrimack College, the University of Maine women’s soccer team didn’t look like a squad that was coming off a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Despite losing the possession battle, the senior-laden and well-organized Warriors limited the Black Bears to very few quality scoring chances while creating a handful themselves with their long balls over the top.
The Black Bears came alive with 10 minutes remaining and stormed the Warrior penalty area but 5-foot-10 graduate student goalkeeper Lily Morgan came up with a number of top-notch saves to enable the Warriors to earn a 0-0 tie at Mahaney Diamond.
There is no overtime in regular season games.
It is the third consecutive tie between the two schools with the other two being 1-1.
UMaine is now 2-0-2 and extended its unbeaten streak at Mahaney Diamond to 19 games (10-0-9). Merrimack is 1-2-1.
“It was probably our toughest outing. This is the first time this year we were out of character,” said UMaine head coach Scott Atherley, whose Black Bears won their first America East Tournament title last year which provided them with their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“We were trying to play too fast in the beginning. We were trying to force things. And I told them before the game, when you play a team that is direct, you have to control the tempo, keep the ball on the ground and keep possession.
“Because we weren’t keeping possession, we ended up getting disconnected so they were the team forcing transition and that’s not what we wanted to happen,” added Atherley. “But give Merrimack credit. They do what they do well. They counter and put you under pressure and we didn’t handle their pressure very well.”
However, the Black Bears began playing with a sense of urgency at the end only to have Morgan keep them at bay.
UMaine’s best chance over the first 80 minutes came with 19 minutes remaining.
Abby Kraemer tried to send her sister Kayla in alone on Morgan with a through ball and Kayla Kraemer received a fortuitous bounce off a defender’s foot which enabled her to race down the right side and get off a shot labeled for the far corner.
“I was ready for her to shoot it and I jumped and got my right hand on it,” said Morgan, who finished with 13 saves,12 coming in the second half.
“She made a great save,” said Kayla Kraemer.
A few minutes later, UMaine center back Anna Phillips raced into the penalty area and had an open header from 10 yards out off a cross only to sail it over the crossbar.
With seven minutes left, Abby Kraemer darted down the right side and sent a low cross into the middle of the penalty area just before she crossed the end line.
The ball squirted over to Julie Lossius who directed it toward the goal only to have Morgan dive across and parry it away with her hands.
“We know who our star of the game was,” grinned Merrimack coach Gabe Mejail.
Merrimack generated a few good chances early in the second half during a good spell of play for them including a long curling left-footed shot from 22 yards out by Bella Keogh that forced UMaine goalkeeper Jessica Kasacek to make a diving save.
Kasacek finished with five saves in a solid performance.
UMaine had a 25-6 edge in shot attempts.
It is the third straight game in which UMaine has scored one goal or less.
“We got exhausted mentally,” said Mejail. “Maine picked it up. That’s why they’re the defending America East champs.
“We decided to not play defense and attack in the second half but when you do that, you are vulnerable to the counter attack which Maine is so good at. We got caught on our heels a lot and we panicked.”
The Black Bears had a decided edge in possession in a relatively uneventful first half but rarely transformed that advantage into a scoring opportunity.
The Black Bears repeatedly took long distance shots but missed the net high or wide.
UMaine attempted seven shots but only one had to be saved by Morgan and that came off a Luise Reinwald shot from the middle of the penalty area off a scramble.
The low shot was easily handled by Morgan.
Both teams will play again on Sunday as UMaine will travel to Rutgers for a 1 p.m. game and Merrimack will host Bryant at noon.
