Possession pays off in UMaine win

ORONO – After a short pre-game huddle, coach Terry Kix sent her University of Maine field hockey team onto the field on Tuesday with a brief three-word message.

“Possession, everybody. Possession,” Kix said.

The meaning: Take care of the ball, make precise passes, and don’t give up the ball needlessly.

The Black Bears apparently listened.

UMaine scored four first-half goals, outshot the University at Albany 14-4 over the same span, and cruised to a 5-1 win in a mutual America East opener.

“We really wanted to be consistent in our possession game, and we really felt that if we could control the ball, good things were gonna happen,” Kix said.

They did.

Tara Bedard put the Bears on the board with a nice individual effort and shot just 2:14 into the game and the Bears broke a 1-1 tie by scoring three more times in the final 11 minutes of the half en route to the win.

UMaine improved to 2-3, with three losses coming at the hands of teams ranked in the national Top 20, while Albany dropped to 2-5.

Junior midfielder Jen Johnstone scored two goals and senior Boston College transfer Morgan Brady pitched in with two assists and her first goal as a Black Bear.

Brady’s goal gave UMaine the lead for good when she put the ball in play as the “inserter” on a penalty corner, then hopped on a subsequent loose ball.

“I saw the rebound bouncing and just took a swing at random,” Brady said. “It was pretty chaotic in there.”

Three of the Black Bear goals came off penalty corners, while another came on a Johnstone penalty stroke.

“Our offense was just on the same page today,” Johnstone said. “Everybody played well, everybody knew where everybody else was, and our passing patterns were just on.”

Karyn Magno added a goal and Kim Leo notched two assists for the Bears. Goalie Jaye Lance made five saves in 66 minutes of action before Colbey Smith wrapped up the win but was untested in her brief stint.

Ali Mann tied the game at 1-1 for the Great Danes off a feed from Amy Hammer with 29:15 left in the first half. Elaine Sullivan and Megan Akstin split time in net for Albany. Sullivan made seven saves and Akstin didn’t face a shot.