Owls capture first win
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Owl men’s soccer team played host to the Unity Rams Sunday and had its best offensive output of the season on the way to a 5-1 victory.
UMPI women sweep series over Rams It was also the first win for the squad after opening with four consecutive losses.
The Owls put the pressure on early and often and tallied first with an own goal. The Owls continued to pressure the Rams and in the 18th minute, Cody Blair, a freshman from Ashland, was a part of another goal. This time he was credited with the assist to fellow freshman Mohamud Abukar of Lewiston.
The Rams finally answered to cut the margin to 2-1, but it only took a couple of minutes for the Owls to get that goal back. Chris Daly, a sophomore from Kingfield, put the ball in the net off another Blair assist to make it a two-goal lead for the hosts at intermission.
In the second half, the Owls turned to Derek Healy, a junior from Hanover, Mass., to put the game out of reach. In the 50th minute, Healy found a way to get another ball past the Rams’ keeper, with Abukar getting credit for the assist. Brandon Danforth, a freshman from East Millinocket, collected his first assist in his college career, setting Healy up for his second goal of the game and that closed out the scoring in the match.
“This is by far the best we have played as a team,” said UMPI Head Coach Alan Gordon. “I think the early goal really helped us settle down and just play. The younger guys on this team needed something like that to happen for them.
“The passing was good, the communication was good, it was an all-around team effort. We have been looking for a lot of young faces to step up and contribute, and they did that today.
Besides Blair and Abukar, Gordon said Sean Barbosa of Caribou was a big part of the day as well, stepping in as a back and solidifying the defense.
The Owls were on the road Tuesday and take on UM-Machias. Coming up next is Saturday’s Homecoming match against Fisher College at Park Family Field at 2 p.m.
PRESQUE ISLE — The Owls shut out the Unity Rams at home, and evened their record at 2-2 with a 3-0 win.
Bethany Heald, a junior from Enfield, got the scoring going in the first half when she headed in a beautiful pass from Sam Nadeau, a sophomore from St. David, in the 31st minute. The Owls continued to put pressure on the Rams throughout the first half, outshooting their opponents, 10-4.
It wasn’t until the second half that they started extending their lead. In the 52nd minute, Jessy Dickison, a sophomore from Houlton, fired in an unassisted shot in for the second goal. Just five minutes passed before the Owls would add to that lead, as Nadeau was able to connect on a goal of her own. Holli Boyce, a freshman from Stonington, was credited with the assist.
Owls’ keeper Allie Lopez, a sophomore from Kingfield, collected eight saves in the shutout.
“In general it was better, fitness-wise it was better, possession-wise it was better,” said UMPI Head Coach Trevor Parent. “It was good, borderline very good, but we are looking for great. It’s always good to get back to .500 after a tough couple of losses. Psychologically it will hopefully lead us into a nice Homecoming Weekend.”
The Owls will host Fisher College at noon next Saturday.
Owl harriers eighth at UNE
BIDDEFORD — Connor Hrynuk finished in 17th place to lead the Owl men’s cross country team to an eighth-place team finish at UNE Saturday.
Hrynuk’s time of 29:05.6 was once again good enough to pace the Owls. Sully Jackson, a junior from Wilton, came across the line 20th at 29:22.7. Matt Forshey was the third runner to finish for the Owls again this week in 38th overall.
The next three runners in for UMPI made a jump in their times from last week’s race at the Husson Invitational. Trevor Levesque, a sophomore from Presque Isle, improved by 43 seconds. Corey Hebert, a senior from West Baldwin, jumped 1:40, and Mitch St. Peter, a freshman from Caribou, finished 30 seconds quicker than his last time. Saul Nunez, a sophomore from Mapleton, rounded out the scoring for the Owls in 69th place.
Taylor paces UMPI women in race
BIDDEFORD — The women’s cross country team ended the day with a team score of 342, placing 13th out of 14 teams on Saturday in a meet hosted by the University of New England.
Tabitha Taylor, a sophomore from Ticonderoga, N.Y., paced the Owls with a time of 25:58, good for 52nd place out of 151 runners. For Taylor, it was a much better time than her last outing, a 3:00 improvement on her time from the Husson Invitational just a week ago.
Chenoa Jackson, a freshman from Wilton, finished 65th with a time of 27:14.5. Sara Bell, a junior from Unity, also saw an improvement in her efforts as well, as she finished over a minute ahead of her time posted last week and placed 69th. Elise Gudde, a freshman from Caribou, finished 79thin her first race of the season, and Kristen Westrack, a senior from Calais, and Shawana McDonough, a senior from Alexander, continued the day’s trend of improving their times — Westrack by 1:15 and McDonough by almost 2:30.
The Owl cross country teams’ next event is an Alumni and All-Comers race during Homecoming Week on Sunday at 11 a.m. They return to regular action on Sept. 26 at the Bowdoin Invitational.
Volleyball team loses two
Home for the first time this season, the UMPI Owls’ volleyball team lost a doubleheader to UM-Machias last Wednesday, 3-2 and 3-1.
In the opener, UMPI won the first game, 25-14, and the third, 25-17, but were nipped in the other two, 26-24 and 25-23 to force a tie-breaker, which it lost, 15-7.
Abby Jewett had 12 kills and seven service aces and Hannah Boyce 11 kills and eight service aces for the Owls. Morgan Swan came up with 10 kills and five service aces.
In the second match, the Owls were only able to grab a win in the second game by a score of 25-19, while they dropped the other three, 25-18, 26-14 and 25-11.
Jewett’s 14 kills and 10 digs led the Owls’ statistically. Boyce had 13 kills and seven digs, while Swan and Hannah Williams each led the way with four service aces.
UMPI, now 0-7. goes back to work Friday and Saturday at the St. Joseph’s College Autumn Invitational. UM-Fort Kent visits UMPI next Wednesday, Sept. 23 for the final home match of the season.
Owl golfers open in the rain
PRESQUE ISLE — The Owls’ golf team opened up its season in cold and rainy conditions on its home course Friday. The visiting Mariners ended up taking the match, shooting some impressive golf despite the conditions.
The Mariners’ Erich Klopfer reached the clubhouse with a one-over-par 73 to pace the field. The MMA Black Team ended the day with an impressive 310 team total. MMA Blue ended with a 352.
The Owls were led by Noah Bernard, a sophomore from Fort Fairfield, who shot an 83. Eric Depner, a junior from Farmington, Conn., was one stroke off his pace with an 84. Hazen Dauphine, a junior from Bradley, turned in a score of 90, while Adam Begos, a senior from Portland, finished the day with a 103.
Despite the inclement weather and results, Head Coach Dan Hotham saw some positives in his team’s effort to open the season.
The Owls return to action today as they travel to Castine to participate in the MMA Invitational. On Saturday and Sunday, it’s on to the MSGA Collegiate Championships at Fairlawn Golf Course in Poland Springs.
