Freshman sensation Sam Nadeau bagged her second hat trick of the season to lead the Owls to a 3-2 win over the powerful Fisher College Falcons Saturday as part of UMPI’s Homecoming Weekend.
Nadeau, from Madawaska, put UMPI on the board quickly when she deposited a nifty pass from senior Jasmine Cote of Limestone into the back of the goal just eight minutes into play. Mikaelah Tracy assisted Nadeau at the 15:52 mark to give the much more aggressive Owls a 2-0 lead.
Nadeau put a cap on the Owls’ offensive output at 28:14 in the first half, capitalizing on junior Nicole Cyr’s lead pass to score again and give UMPI a 3-0 lead heading into the locker room at half.
The break re-energized the Falcon attack as the level of intensity was noticeably raised in the second 45 minutes of play. The Falcons took a commanding lead in corner kicks, with six in the second half to the three for the Owls, who were without Cyr, a team captain, for the second half.
The Falcons’ wave of intensity included a great effort from Holly Lesperance, who notched an unassisted goal on a mishandled ball near the Owl goal that made the difference 3-1 just nine minutes into the second half.
Six minutes later, Ashley De Sousa scored on a pass from the NAIA leader in goals scored, Julia Schojan, to bring the Owl advantage to only one goal, 3-2.
The Owls would battle a game Falcon squad and hold onto the victory with an outstanding defensive effort in the final 30 minutes of the match. The Owl defense marked Schojan effectively for the entire match, allowing her only two good looks at the goal in her six shots for the 90 minutes of play.
Schojan had 15 goals in nine games for the Falcons and coming into the match and the Falcons were No. 1 nationally in goals scored for teams in the NAIA with 35, but Schojan was held without a goal.
Men’s soccer team
loses to MMA, Fisher
The UMPI men dropped two soccer matches last week to fall to 1-6-1 on the season.
In the first match of the week, junior Jonathan Reeks scored all five goals in a 5-0 win for Maine Maritime Academy.
Owl goalkeeper Caleb Bragg-Grady was the lone bright spot, as the Mariners pressured the Owl net heavily in the first half, battering UMPI’s netminder with 18 shots in the first 45 minutes of action. Bragg-Grady was equal to the task for the most part by making nine saves in that same period with some spectacular efforts to hold the game within reach.
With a little under 14 minutes remaining in the first half, Reeks shot a ball that was deflected and somehow stopped by Bragg-Grady, who was upside down and tangled with Mariner Kyle Haslam on the ground.
Spearheaded by the heroic effort of Bragg-Grady, the game was still scoreless until the 44th minute of the first half when Reeks snuck the ball to the bottom left corner past Bragg-Grady, after a play up from teammate Bryan Soucy. The Mariners took the 1-0 lead into the half.
The second half belonged to Reeks as he scored the remaining four goals in a span of 17 minutes.
Game two of the week saw the Owls drop a hard-fought 2-1 match to Fisher College on Homecoming Saturday.
Fisher scored the first two goals in a physical match that included 14 fouls and four yellow cards. The physical play inspired the Owls in the second half as Presque Isle native Joshua Allen put home a penalty kick that made the score 2-1 with 30 minutes left in the match.
The Owls outshot the Falcons 6-1 in the final 30 minutes, but could not break the tough Fisher defense, as the visitors held on for the victory.
Bragg-Grady was again strong in net for the Owls as he had eight saves to add to his NCAA AD3I league-leading total of 64 on the season.
