The Husson College football team’s attempt to gain a spot in a conference was dealt a blow last week when the six Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference schools in the 14-team New England Football Conference put a proposal to form their own league on hold.

The six schools are still interested in forming a MASCAC football league, according to Maine Maritime Academy athletic director Jim Dyer, “but they don’t have the approval of their presidents and they don’t have a means to accommodate affiliate members.”

Dyer said he believed there have to be seven members to be an accredited conference.

“We have one more year left on our four-year scheduling rotation and we agreed to two more years after that,” said Dyer.

That means the earliest the league could add schools, if the MASCAC schools leave, would be 2008.

Husson athletic director and football coach Gabby Price, whose Eagles recently completed their second season as an independent, said it is obvious the New England Football Conference has no interest in adding his school.

But Husson and fellow New England-based NCAA Division III football independents Mount Ida and Becker (both from Massachusetts), who are all in the North Atlantic Conference in other sports, will have the opportunity to discuss their football futures when the NAC athletic directors meet in January.

“That is on the agenda,” said Price. “We’ll see how the league feels about it.”

Price indicated he would like the three of them to form their own league and invite other schools to become associate members, including the other New England Division III independent, Plymouth State College (N.H.).

“There are a lot of positives to being in a league, like developing rivalries,” said Price.

UM women struggling for goals

Scoring goals has been a chronic problem for the University of Maine’s women’s hockey program.

First-year coach Guy Perron’s 4-5-2 Black Bears are averaging 29.2 shots on goal per game but only 1.9 goals.

Maine has scored more than two goals in a game just once and the Bears have scored 11 goals in their last six games while going 1-4-1 during that span.

The power play is an anemic 4-for-77 (5.2 percent) this season.

“We’re working on finishing, driving to the net, and doing the little things you need to do,” said Perron. “We’re getting a lot of chances. We’re missing empty nets and hitting posts and crossbars. Hopefully, the puck will go in sooner or later.”

He said they sometimes hurt themselves by overpassing instead of getting the puck to the front of the net and looking for rebounds.

Perron said the Bears will continue to hurt their chances to put the puck in the net if they give opponents 11 power-play opportunities, including three five-on-threes, like they did in a 3-1 loss to Colgate on Sunday. Colgate converted twice.

“We were very undisciplined, and that’s what cost us the game. We have to really concentrate on working harder. Most of the penalties were the result of us being lazy [and not getting proper defensive position],” said Perron. “We’ve got to do a better job getting to loose pucks and battling for them.”

He said that since several of his top players kill penalties and play on the power play, it takes its toll on them if the team is shorthanded for a significant period of time.

“They get tired, so if we can stay out of the box, it’ll be a better situation for us,” said Perron.

Perron said he has been pleased with the play of defensemen Kelly Law and Laura Maddin along with the all-sophomore line of Brigitte Laflamme between Sonia Corriveau and Kate Sunstrum. They had all three goals in the split at Colgate.

Maine won the first game 2-0.

He also praised sophomore goalie Rachel Gettings, who has a 2.19 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage while going 4-5-1.

“She keeps us in games. I’m looking for more consistency from her along with the rest of the team,” said Perron, whose Bears will take an 0-3-1 Hockey East record into an important series at Northeastern on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

Maine is in last place in Hockey East and Northeastern is right above them in fifth with a 1-2 mark, 2-10-1 overall.

Campbell is All-American

Hampden native Erin Campbell, a sophomore striker for the University of Maine-Farmington’s women’s soccer team, has been chosen to ESPN/The Magazine’s Academic All-America Third Team in the college division.

The 2003 North Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year has racked up 30 goals and 16 assists in her first two seasons and is currently carrying a 4.0 grade-point average in elementary education.

Individuals are selected through voting among the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).