Maine upsets Huskies Bedard scores winner in OT

ORONO – Twelve years of frustration ended for University of Maine field hockey coach Terry Kix Sunday.

Senior forward Tara Bedard of Skowhegan converted a pass from Winslow sophomore left midfielder Amie Dubois with 4:34 left in the first overtime as the Bears stunned nationally ranked Northeastern 2-1 at Morse Field for Kix’s first-ever win over NU.

Maine is now 12-2 overall, 1-1 in America East. Northeastern, ranked eighth in the country, fell to 13-3 and 2-1, respectively, after having its 11-game conference winning streak snapped.

Dubois said there wasn’t anyone open “so I tried to get it on the cage. I thought we might get a corner or somebody might deflect it. That’s what happened.”

Bedard, who was on her knees near the top of the circle, said, “I fell, I saw it right in front of me and I swept it.”

“She stopped it, turned around and shot it between my pads,” said NU goalie Emily Roy of Winslow.

“That was definitely the biggest goal of my career,” said Bedard, who has 25 career goals including 10 this season.

The fast and highly skilled Huskies outshot Maine 15-5 and had 14 penalty corners to Maine’s four. But Maine defended effectively and created more chances as the game progressed.

Mari Creatini’s 10th goal staked NU to a 1-0 lead.

She swatted the ball past Maine goalie Jaye Lance during a scramble with 7:44 left in the first half.

But Maine’s Rachael Hilgar equalized with her fifth goal 4:41 later off a Bedard pass.

“Their goalie got to the ball the same time I did but she kicked it right back to my stick. She laid down in front of me and I shot it over the top of her,” said Hilgar.

“That goal was the key to the game,” said Kix. “That gave us some confidence. We played much better in the second half and we played very well in overtime.

“Northeastern has a tremendous team. We hung on for dear life, played great defense and executed on the opportunities we had,” added Kix.

Lance made five exceptional saves and well-positioned fullback Rebecca Ouellett swept a shot off the goal line with three minutes left in regulation.

“My job on corners was to cover the post,” said Ouellett. “This was an amazing win.”