Fans of UMaine’s basketball teams can see the squads in action Sunday during the annual Blue-White intrasquad scrimmages at Alfond Arena in Orono.

Coach Ted Woodward’s UMaine men open the doubleheader at 2 p.m. with a modified scrimmage. The Bears return five lettermen, led by point guard Junior Bernal, and feature eight players from the state of Maine.

The women’s squad, guided by first-year head coach Cindy Blodgett, will play a full 40-minute scrimmage beginning at 3:30 p.m.

UMaine welcomes back eight veterans, led by senior point guard Kris Younan. The Bears have five Maine high school products on the roster.

Both UMaine teams are gearing up for exhibition contests as the women entertain the University of New Brunswick Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Alfond Arena, while the men play host to Dalhousie Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. in Memorial Gym.

Maine softball players honored

Three members of the 2007 University of Maine softball team were named 2007 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Academic All-Americans this week.

Catcher Maggie Soule, second baseman Ashley Waters and pitcher Christine McGivney each had a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher during the spring season.

As a team, the Black Bears finished in the top third nationally out of more than 400 teams. Maine was 17th overall in 2006.

Soule, a 2007 graduate, was the Bears’ primary starting catcher and had six RBIs. Waters, who is a junior this year, led the team in doubles (10), RBIs (29) and slugging percentage (.478). McGivney, a sophomore, had a team-low earned-run average (3.68) and pitched a team-leading eight complete games.

Speirs in fourth top-five finish

Jesse Speirs of Bangor and teammate Jonathan Randolph tied for third to lead the University of Mississippi to victory in the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate earlier this week, a school-record third straight win for the Rebels.

Speirs and Randolph shot 2-under-par 69s in Sunday’s opening round of the scheduled three-day tourney in Nashville, Tenn. Ole Miss posted a team score of 283, one stroke better than arch rival Mississippi State in the rain-shortened event.

For Speirs, a junior transfer playing his first year at Mississippi after two years at Texas Christian, it was his third top-five finish and fourth top 10 in the university’s five-tourney fall schedule. Speirs posted the best Ole Miss finish in four of them.

Mississippi is ranked 19th this week in the Golfstat Ranking, the first time the Rebels have been in the top 20 in several years.

Bears providing treats

The University of Maine Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will sponsor a “Trick or Eat” food drive on Halloween night, Thursday, Oct. 31st.

Black Bear student-athletes will go around Orono and Old Town collecting goods for the Crossroads Resource Center in Old Town.

To make a donation, contact Student-Athlete Resources Coordinator Brandi Rideout at 581-1828 or brandi.rideout@umit.maine.edu.

Futbol for Change

The UMaine men’s soccer team has recently teamed up to support Futbol for Change, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children in Africa.

Futbol for Change was founded in June 2007 by Michael Raskys and Robert Humphrey. Like UMaine player Dimitri Anastasiou, Raskys is a native of Colchester, Conn., which is how the Bears’ involvement in the program kicked off.

The goals of the organization are to locate a community to provide assistance to in the country of Ghana, offering a soccer academy for the children of the selected community and to uplift the standard of living for the community.

Futbol for Change has been working with Dr. Owusu-Ansah, a Professor of African Studies at James Madison University, where both Raskys and Humphrey attended school and played collegiate soccer. The organization is planning a fact finding mission to Ghana in the fall of 2007.

For information on the organization, visit their Web site at www.futbolforchange.org.