Last year, the University of Maine’s women’s soccer team beat New Hampshire 3-0 in the America East championship game at Mahaney Diamond in Orono to earn its second consecutive league championship and NCAA Tournament berth.
The two teams will square off in the regular season finale at 7 p.m. Thursday night at the New Balance Soccer Complex in Orono. And the Black Bears are facing an unfamiliar scenario where they could miss the playoffs if they don’t come out with a victory.
And they will be without leading scorer Emma Nicholson, who sustained a lower body injury in practice according to UMaine head coach Scott Atherley. Nicholson has eight points on two goals and four assists.
Nicholson missed last Sunday’s 2-1 loss at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
UMaine is currently in the sixth and last playoff slot in the nine-team league with eight points on two wins and two ties to go with three league losses.
The Black Bears could finish as high as fourth with a win and they would then host a quarterfinal game on Sunday.
If they finish fifth or sixth, they would go on the road for a Sunday quarterfinal.
UNH is currently fourth with 10 points (2-1-4) and has already qualified for the postseason.
UMaine is 3-7-3 overall and UNH is 4-4-7.
Bryant is fifth with nine (2-2-3) and chasing UMaine are the University of Maryland Baltimore County (7 points, 2-4-1) and NJUT (6 points, 1-3-3).
Binghamton (18 points, 5-0-3) has clinched the regular season title and quarterfinal-round bye and Vermont (14 points, 4-1-2) will sew up second and the other bye with at least a tie at last-place Albany or a UMass Lowell (11 points, 3-2-2) loss or tie at Bryant.
UMass Lowell beat Vermont 1-0 so the River Hawks would win the tiebreaker with Vermont.
Teams receive three points for a win and one for a tie.
UMaine could still get in with a loss if the Thursday game between NJIT and UMBC in Baltimore ends in a tie.
UMaine would win the tiebreaker with UMBC since it beat the Retrievers 2-0 but would lose it to NJIT as the result of last Sunday’s loss.
“It’s in our own hands,” Atherley said. “A win gets us in.”
Senior Gillian Rovers started in place of Nicholson as the central striker and Rockport freshman Britta Denny also saw some playing time there after being moved over from the wing.
UMaine recently lost starting center backs Rebecca Grisdale and Lea Schroder to season-ending knee injuries.
“We have some players stepping into different positions due to the void created by our injuries,” said Atherley who noted that sophomore Olivia Grisdale, Rebecca’s sister, has done an exceptional job filling in for her sister after moving to center back from the midfield.
He said New Hampshire, like his team, lost a lot of quality players to graduation.
“Our teams are very similar,” said Atherley.
His team gave up a goal just 2:49 into the game at NJIT and it is important for his team to get off to a strong start vs. UNH.
“That will give us some confidence,” said Atherley.
Junior midfielder Abbey Thornton from Windham is the team’s second-leading scorer behind Nicholson with three goals and one assist for eight points and senior forward Julie Lossius has three goals for six points.
UNH has been led by Abbi Maier (5-1-11) and Ricshya Walker (4-3-11).
