ORONO – University of Maine junior soccer forward Gillian Rovers couldn’t have picked a better time to earn her first entry on the scoresheet for the first time this season.
Rovers converted a Kristina Kelly pass with just 6:16 remaining in regulation to rescue a 2-2 tie for the America East-leading Black Bears against last-place New Jersey Institute of Technology at cold, blustery Mahaney Diamond on Sunday afternoon.
There is no overtime.
UMaine extended its Mahaney Diamond unbeaten streak to 25 games (16-0-9).
The Black Bears did have their eight-game winning streak snapped, but the tie means they remained atop the America East standings with their 6-0-1 mark to go with their overall mark of 10-1-3.
UMaine will travel to take on second-place New Hampshire in the season finale on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and the winner will earn the regular season title and be the top seed for the upcoming playoffs.
UNH is 6-1 in the conference (11-3-1 overall) so UMaine just needs a tie to nab the regular season championship and the right to host the semifinal and — if it wins the semifinal — the championship game.
The Highlanders, who are now 3-10-3 and 0-5-2 and will miss the playoffs, hadn’t won a game since Sept. 1 and were 0-9-1 in their previous 10 games.
But they appeared on their way to spoiling Seniors Day as freshman Bella Ramirez’s first-half goal and senior Ciara Adams’ second-half tally gave them a 2-0 lead.
And NJIT did an excellent job protecting the lead and frustrating the Black Bears as it got numbers behind the ball, kept UMaine on the perimeter and made timely blocks and clearances.
But the Black Bears found their way back into the game when Kelly was hauled down in the penalty area and they were awarded a penalty kick with 17:30 remaining.
Senior tri-captain Lara Kirkby converted from the penalty shot with a low shot past the left hand side of goalkeeper Samantha Constantine for her fourth goal of the campaign.
UMaine pressed for the equalizer and it eventually came.
Kayla Kraemer spotted an open Kelly on the left flank and fed her a pass.
The speedy Lincolnville native and former Camden Hills High School of Rockport All-American raced into the penalty area and snapped a low cross across the goalmouth where Rovers ran onto it and directed it into the empty net.
“I try to play an early ball to make sure whoever is marking our players can’t keep up with them,” explained Kelly. “I didn’t see anybody in the box and I was just hoping I didn’t kick it to the goalkeeper.
“Plus I was exhausted and just wanted to get rid of it,” grinned Kelly.
“All I can remember is Kris’ ball,” said Rovers. “I started running a bit wide and then I realized [Kelly] was out there, so I cut inside centrally and it was a great ball.
“I just had to get my foot on it. Once it got past the goalie it was just a tap-in,” added Rovers, who is from Kitchener, Ontario, and who has averaged 18 minutes of playing time per game this season coming off the bench.
“I am so proud of her,” said Kirkby. “She is one of our hardest workers. She puts in so many hours and has made so much progress the last two years since I’ve been here. It was so well-deserved.”
NJIT scored on its only shot attempt in the first half when Adams’ high floating pass bounced in front of Ramirez and she chested it down and rifled a half-volley over the hands of UMaine goalie Jessica Kasacek with 6:40 left in the half for her first collegiate goal and point.
Just 11:33 into the second half, Adams scored her third goal of the season when Briana Andreoli stole the ball down the left flank and sent a low cross into the crowded penalty area.
It went through several sets of legs onto the foot of Adams, who chipped it over the head of Kasacek. Sydney Burlingame also assisted on the goal.
UMaine finished with 21 shot attempts to NJIT’s three, and seven shots on goal to NJIT’s two.
Madison Miller made two first-half saves and Constantine had three in the second half for NJIT.
Kasacek didn’t make a save.
“It’s always disappointing when we don’t get a win but I was proud of the team for getting back into the game despite the tough conditions with the wind, the emotion of Seniors Day and a tough, scrappy opponent who fights hard and is aggressive.”
“It definitely wasn’t our best game,” said midfielder Kelly. “We deviated from the game plan. We usually try to play the ball on the ground but we got caught up with their game which is kicking the ball back and forth. We got into a rut and were doing the same things over and over and getting stuck in certain places on the field.
“But, at the end of the day, we’re still in first place and we worked hard to get back into it,” Kelly added.
UMaine head coach Scott Atherley agreed, saying his team spent too much time putting the ball in the air which was to NJIT’s advantage.
“At the end of the day, it was a fair result,” said Atherley. “We had a lot of belief we could come back, and getting those two goals late was important for us.”
NJIT coach Ally Nick was proud of her young team and pointed out that “we’ve been [competitive] in every game. We put Maine in panic mode. They didn’t get many dangerous chances.”
