Owls blanked in first 2 matches
The University of Maine at Presque Isle men’s soccer team opened its season Saturday and Sunday in Vermont with shutout losses to Vermont Tech and Johnson State.
The Owls fell to Vermont Tech Saturday, 3-0. UMPI’s Brandon Fuller and Chris Udobe both had scoring opportunities turned away in a scoreless first half. Matt Brien scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 53rd minute and added two more later in the match. Owl goalkeeper Matt Manter finished with seven saves.
Matt Manter (Courtesy/UMPI Athletics)
Johnson State powered past UMPI Sunday, 7-0. The hosts outshot the Owls, 21-2. Joseph Holloway netted two goals to lead the Badgers, who improved to 2-0.
For their next match, the Owls will return to Vermont to take on Lyndon State at noon on Saturday, Sept. 9. After another road match against Unity, UMPI will play its first home match Sunday, Sept. 17, against Fisher College of Boston beginning at 2 p.m.
UMPI volleyball goes 3-1 on weekend
The Owls’ volleyball team got off to a strong start by winning three of its four matches in Bangor Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Coach Jonathon Bowman’s squad beat Vermont-based College of St. Joseph Friday, 3-0. The set scores were 25-9, 25-6 and 25-10. Freshman Taylor Johnson had nine kills and Maddi Thweatt added eight to go along with six service aces and three digs. Brittney Harper contributed 14 assists and six service aces.
UMPI lost to Husson Saturday, 3-0 (25-21, 25-21 and 25-22), in the opening match of the Husson Invitational. Miranda Washinawatok led UMPI with nine kills and 13 digs and Thweatt had a team-best 15 digs along with seven kills. Harper picked up 18 assists.
Miranda Washinawatok (Courtesy/UMPI Athletics)
The Owls then beat Unity and UM-Machias, both by 3-0 scores. Washinawatok had nine kills against Unity and 12 more against UMM. Harper had a combined 47 assists.
“It’s a good start to the season,” Bowman said, “but we still want to raise our level of play and beat teams like Husson.”
UMPI plays a tournament at St. Joseph’s College of Standish on Friday, Sept. 8, taking on the host Monks at 5 p.m. before a rematch with Husson at 7 p.m. The first opponent on Saturday, Sept. 9 will be UM-Fort Kent.
Cross country teams debut in Farmington
Coach Chris Smith’s UMPI cross country teams opened their season Saturday with a meet at the University of Maine at Farmington.
The men placed sixth out of seven teams and were led by Kyle Davis, a freshman from Addison, whose time of 20:49 was good enough for 42nd place out of 89 competitors. Jesse Gonzalez, another freshman from Othello, Washington, came in 49th in 21:41. Saul Nunez, Danny Gillotti and Andrew Hunt rounded out the UMPI contingent.
The women came in seventh place and were paced by freshman Kendra Silvers of Naples, who clocked the challenging course at Mount Blue High School in 27:01, placing her 54th out of 86. Jessica Dickison, a senior from Houlton who is new to the sport, was 67th in 29:05. Chenoa Jackson, Elise Gudde and Mikayla Churchill were the other Owl runners.
The Husson Invitational in Bangor is the next meet for the Owls and is slated to start at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9.
