UMaine women’s field hockey, ice hockey, soccer teams face key games

It is going to be a busy weekend for the University of Maine women’s field hockey, ice hockey and soccer teams starting with the America East opener for the field hockey team at 3 p.m. on Friday against Vermont at the UMaine field hockey complex.

The ice hockey team will begin its season at Alfond Arena in Orono at 6 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday against 10th-ranked Quinnipiac (Conn.) and the soccer team will play an America East contest at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the University of Vermont.

UMaine field hockey coach Josette Babineau earned her 200th career win at UMaine on Saturday in a 6-0 victory over Merrimack and notched No. 201 on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Stonehill.

Babineau, who is in her 18th season at UMaine, has a career record of 201-131 and her teams have won or shared five America East regular season championships from 2015-2023. Her 2021 team won the America East tournament and earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in program history.

Babineau said the 200-win plateau means a lot to her.

“We’re often thinking ahead but a moment like this gives you a chance to think about everything that has gone into the program and all that the players have done for the program over the years. I’m very grateful to have coached such great players and to have worked alongside such great coaches in our program. That’s very special,” said Babineau.

She also said she has had time to reflect on the growth of the program including the new field and the resources that are now available to players.

The new $8.3 million, 70,000-square foot field hockey complex was unveiled 13 months ago.

Babineau’s current team has gone 6-3 in non-conference play while Vermont is 2-5 overall including a 3-2 overtime win over the University of California-Davis in its America East opener.

The UMaine coach has been pleased with the progress of her team.

Three of the top seven scorers are Division I transfers Victoria Tinghitella (4 goals, 3 assists), Alexsandra Sacker (2 & 3) and Micaela Grajales (2 & 2). Tinghitella and Sacker transferred from Kent State and Grajales came from Quinnipiac. And starting goalie Rozarie Mrazova (1.36 goals-against average, .783 save percentage) transferred from a school in the Czech Republic.

Olivia Geniti (4 & 4) leads the Black Bears in scoring.

“We have a lot of new players in our program so we wanted to get everyone on the same page with our decision-making. Now we have a good idea of our talent level so we know how aggressive we can be with our attacking style and how we want to defend in certain situations,” she said. “Our individual performances have been quite strong.”

UMaine has had nine players score at least one goal.

“That is a good indication of the style we’re playing. Our midfielders have been coming through for us; our backs have played a big role in our (offensive) penalty corners and our forwards have been very productive around the goal. We’ve been spreading the ball around and ball movement is a big priority,” said Babineau.

Vermont beat UMaine 2-1 a year ago and has won two of the last three meetings.

Molly Engstrom’s ice hockey team battled to a 2-2 overtime tie at New Hampshire in an exhibition game last weekend while Quinnipiac was losing a 2-1 overtime exhibition to defending Hockey East champ and preseason coaches poll favorite UConn.

This is the first season fans will have to pay to attend UMaine women’s home games.

Quinnipiac went 25-11-1 last year but made the NCAA Tournament in each of the two previous seasons.

Quinnipiac has gone 7-0-1 against Maine over their previous eight meetings.

The Bobcats return just three of their top eight scorers.

Scott Atherley’s defending America East champion UMaine soccer team won its league opener 2-1 over Binghamton while Vermont lost its opener at New Hampshire 2-0.

UMaine is 5-1-2 overall and UVM is 5-2-3.

The Black Bears have won the last three meetings including a 2-1 win in the America East semifinals last year on Abby Kraemer’s goal with 29 seconds remaining in regulation.