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University of New Hampshire Athletics
The 'Cats celebrate at NJIT.
Photo by: Lamar Carter / NJIT
Insider Report: Championship Bid
11/6/2021 1:36:00 PM | Women's Soccer, UNH Insider
No. 6 'Cats Play at No. 1 Vermont on Sunday for League Title
DURHAM, N.H. – Tooling down I-89 in their bus, not long after leaving Vermont and crossing back into their home state, the members of the University of New Hampshire women's soccer team got the good word: They had qualified for the America East tournament.
As the No. 6 seed in a six-team field.
The number mattered not a bit. The Wildcats were in.
That was nine days ago. This Saturday, the Wildcats headed back up I-89, back to the University of Vermont.
Sunday, the No. 6 seed plays the No. 1 University of Vermont at 2 p.m. at Virtue Field for the America East championship and a berth in the NCAA Division 1 tournament. The game will be shown on www.americaeast.tv.
It's a difficult challenge.
"Vermont is strong across the board and they're on an eight-game win streak," said UNH coach Steve Welham. "They have so many weapons and they're strong in goal. They have multiple scoring threats and they can beat you in a bunch of different ways."
The Wildcats saw that up close. They were on their way back from their last regular season game when they made the trip down I-89 just over a week ago.
They went into that game with a chance to finish anywhere from second in the league's final regular season rankings to out of the tournament.
Vermont won the game, 3-0, and the long ride home began.
Welham stayed in touch with the America East office as results came in from around the league, results that would determine where the Wildcats finished in the standings.
Finishing second was out of the picture after the loss to Vermont. Missing the tournament entirely was not.
"The office had never seen a race this tight," Welham said.
One early result went UNH's way.
"At one point we thought we were in, but then they said we had to wait again," Welham said. "It was kind of the story of our season. We do everything the hard way. It's OK. We like it like that."
Maine and UMass Lowell were tied 1-1 into the closing minutes of regulation and if it ended like that, UNH was in trouble because of a three-way tiebreaker. But the River Hawks scored a couple of very late goals to win the game.
That left the Wildcats tied with Stony Brook in the standings and they won the head-to-head tiebreaker.
They were in.
"We told the team on the bus and it was a very excited group," Welham said. "That was a fun last hour and a half."
UNH has taken advantage of its opportunity.
The Wildcats made a quick turnaround and went back on the road to New Jersey to play No. 3 seed NJIT last Sunday to a 0-0 tie with senior goalkeeper Cat Sheppard posting her eighth shutout of the season. UNH knocked NJIT out of the tourney on penalty kicks.
The Wildcats moved on to play at No. 2 UMass Lowell on Thursday night. They trailed late when sophomore Anna Hewlett scored in the 80th minute off an assist from classmate Ella Dudley to tie the game.
Again, the teams played through overtime and the game went to penalty kicks. Again, UNH advanced, this time 8-7 in penalty kicks in the bottom of the 10th round.
Now the Wildcats are in the league championship for the fourth time overall and first since 2014.
That year went much like this one when it came to the tournament.
UNH was the No. 3 seed and advanced through the quarterfinals and semifinals on games that came down to penalty kicks.
In the finals, the Wildcats beat No. 1 seed Hartford, for its first and only league tournament championship in Welham's first year as coach.
"There are a lot of striking similarities," Welham said on Saturday morning, shortly before he and his team went out for a training session before getting on the bus back to Vermont. "As a coach you know that every year is completely separate and you don't have any links between these, but there are similarities and everyone is talking about them and we talked to the team about it. It's fun."
Bottom line, they have a championship game to play.
"We've got to make sure we get after it tomorrow and put the right product on the field," Welham said.
Then they'll roll back down I-89.
THE MATCHUP
As the No. 6 seed in a six-team field.
The number mattered not a bit. The Wildcats were in.
That was nine days ago. This Saturday, the Wildcats headed back up I-89, back to the University of Vermont.
Sunday, the No. 6 seed plays the No. 1 University of Vermont at 2 p.m. at Virtue Field for the America East championship and a berth in the NCAA Division 1 tournament. The game will be shown on www.americaeast.tv.
It's a difficult challenge.
"Vermont is strong across the board and they're on an eight-game win streak," said UNH coach Steve Welham. "They have so many weapons and they're strong in goal. They have multiple scoring threats and they can beat you in a bunch of different ways."
The Wildcats saw that up close. They were on their way back from their last regular season game when they made the trip down I-89 just over a week ago.
They went into that game with a chance to finish anywhere from second in the league's final regular season rankings to out of the tournament.
Vermont won the game, 3-0, and the long ride home began.
Welham stayed in touch with the America East office as results came in from around the league, results that would determine where the Wildcats finished in the standings.
Finishing second was out of the picture after the loss to Vermont. Missing the tournament entirely was not.
"The office had never seen a race this tight," Welham said.
One early result went UNH's way.
"At one point we thought we were in, but then they said we had to wait again," Welham said. "It was kind of the story of our season. We do everything the hard way. It's OK. We like it like that."
Maine and UMass Lowell were tied 1-1 into the closing minutes of regulation and if it ended like that, UNH was in trouble because of a three-way tiebreaker. But the River Hawks scored a couple of very late goals to win the game.
That left the Wildcats tied with Stony Brook in the standings and they won the head-to-head tiebreaker.
They were in.
"We told the team on the bus and it was a very excited group," Welham said. "That was a fun last hour and a half."
UNH has taken advantage of its opportunity.
The Wildcats made a quick turnaround and went back on the road to New Jersey to play No. 3 seed NJIT last Sunday to a 0-0 tie with senior goalkeeper Cat Sheppard posting her eighth shutout of the season. UNH knocked NJIT out of the tourney on penalty kicks.
The Wildcats moved on to play at No. 2 UMass Lowell on Thursday night. They trailed late when sophomore Anna Hewlett scored in the 80th minute off an assist from classmate Ella Dudley to tie the game.
Again, the teams played through overtime and the game went to penalty kicks. Again, UNH advanced, this time 8-7 in penalty kicks in the bottom of the 10th round.
Now the Wildcats are in the league championship for the fourth time overall and first since 2014.
That year went much like this one when it came to the tournament.
UNH was the No. 3 seed and advanced through the quarterfinals and semifinals on games that came down to penalty kicks.
In the finals, the Wildcats beat No. 1 seed Hartford, for its first and only league tournament championship in Welham's first year as coach.
"There are a lot of striking similarities," Welham said on Saturday morning, shortly before he and his team went out for a training session before getting on the bus back to Vermont. "As a coach you know that every year is completely separate and you don't have any links between these, but there are similarities and everyone is talking about them and we talked to the team about it. It's fun."
Bottom line, they have a championship game to play.
"We've got to make sure we get after it tomorrow and put the right product on the field," Welham said.
Then they'll roll back down I-89.
THE MATCHUP
- Vermont is 11-5-1 overall and was 7-2-0 in America East play during the regular season.
- UNH is 6-8-4 overall and was 4-4-1.
- The Wildcats started out 0-2-1 in league play and won their next three games and four of five heading into the last Vermont game.
- Senior Francesca Picicci leads UNH in scoring with six goals and an assist.
- Freshman Meghan Guarente has three goals and four assists.
- Hewlett has two goals and four assists.
Players Mentioned
B
/ Women's Soccer
M/F
/ Women's Soccer
MF
/ Women's Soccer
F/M
/ Women's Soccer
GK
/ Women's SoccerSunday, October 18
Friday, October 02
Sunday, September 13
Sunday, September 06