University of New Hampshire Athletics
The America East champions play at Harvard in the NCAA tournament Saturday at 5.
Insider Report: NCAAs on Tap
11/11/2022 4:01:00 PM | Women's Soccer, UNH Insider
League Champion Wildcats Play at Harvard on Saturday at 5
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's soccer team owned the first half of the America East championship game last Sunday at Binghamton.
Binghamton, in turn, owned the second.
After 20 scoreless minutes of overtime play and still tied at 4-4, the Wildcats grabbed the title via penalty kicks when sophomore Meghan Guarente, grad transfer Maddy Warren and freshman Abbi Maier knocked in their penalty kicks while grad student Cat Sheppard came up big in net.
UNH won a second tournament title to go with the program's first in 2014 during coach Steve Welham's first year at the helm.
The Wildcats now head back to the NCAA Division I women's tournament and play a first-round game at Harvard University on Saturday night at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
"It's been an amazing run this year," Welham said. "To build as a team, to go through all the ups and downs that we had to go through and how these women did that, it's unbelievable."
Harvard provides a tough test. The Crimson have an 11-1-3 record and are in the tournament for the 18th time overall and second straight season.
They average 2.87 goals a game, which is the fifth-best total in the nation and have allowed only 12 goals in their 15 games (a goals against average of .80).
UNH scores 1.87 goals a game and allows 1.12.
"We know they're a good team and it's going to be a fight," said UNH junior back Alivia Kelly. "We need to stay disciplined. Binghamton was good preparation for moving our feet against really talented forwards. We need to stick with what we know how to do. We know how to press teams. We know how to score early."
Harvard and UNH each played Boston University and Northeastern this year.
The Crimson beat Northeastern 3-2 and suffered their only loss at home to BU, 1-0.
The Wildcat lost to Northeastern, 1-0, and beat BU, 4-1.
"They play a great brand of soccer," Welham said. "The ball is going to be on the ground., They move it at pace. The speed of play is going to be outstanding. I think we have to be very solid in the back. I think we have to press as a unit together in certain areas to really shut down the passing lanes. We're going to have to have a high level of intensity throughout the match. We know at this level with any letdown teams like that have the ability to punish you quickly."
UNH and Binghamton took turns punishing each other in the America East championship game.
The Wildcats jumped on the home team early and led 4-1 at halftime.
The Bearcats rallied in the second half and chipped away at the lead. They cut it to 4-3 and then with less than six minutes to play, tied it.
The Wildcats kept their composure.
"I think when it was getting tough and it was 4-3 and getting close, that's something that we're not super afraid of facing, just because we've been pushing through adversity all year," said junior back Ella Dudley. "I think we knew we had it. We just needed to hang in there."
Hang in there, they did, through overtime and into PKs.
"To see them pick themselves up and fight and go again was a big deal," Welham said. "A lot of teams couldn't do that. It was a big, raucous crowd and they were all over us in the second half and they didn't break. They didn't fall apart."
Last year, the Wildcats were the No. 6 and last seed in the tournament and advanced through the first and semifinal rounds on penalty kicks and then fell to No. 1 Vermont, 1-0 on a late goal in the title game.
They were the No. 2 seed at Binghamton and were confident going into PKs against the No. 1 Bearcats.
"They came up big when they had to," Welham said. "Cat made a huge save and forced a couple of misses. Abbi Maier, a freshman, had ice in her veins and nailed the penalty kick to win it."
The Wildcats started the season 2-4-0 and have gone unbeaten at 5-0-3 in their last eight contests.
They want a little more and will look to get it in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday at 5.
"If you look at our goals we set two days into preseason, our goal was the second round of the NCAA tournament, not the first round," said Kelly, who is a team captain along with Sheppard. "It's definitely still in the back of our head and we know we're not done."
Binghamton, in turn, owned the second.
After 20 scoreless minutes of overtime play and still tied at 4-4, the Wildcats grabbed the title via penalty kicks when sophomore Meghan Guarente, grad transfer Maddy Warren and freshman Abbi Maier knocked in their penalty kicks while grad student Cat Sheppard came up big in net.
UNH won a second tournament title to go with the program's first in 2014 during coach Steve Welham's first year at the helm.
The Wildcats now head back to the NCAA Division I women's tournament and play a first-round game at Harvard University on Saturday night at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
"It's been an amazing run this year," Welham said. "To build as a team, to go through all the ups and downs that we had to go through and how these women did that, it's unbelievable."
Harvard provides a tough test. The Crimson have an 11-1-3 record and are in the tournament for the 18th time overall and second straight season.
They average 2.87 goals a game, which is the fifth-best total in the nation and have allowed only 12 goals in their 15 games (a goals against average of .80).
UNH scores 1.87 goals a game and allows 1.12.
"We know they're a good team and it's going to be a fight," said UNH junior back Alivia Kelly. "We need to stay disciplined. Binghamton was good preparation for moving our feet against really talented forwards. We need to stick with what we know how to do. We know how to press teams. We know how to score early."
Harvard and UNH each played Boston University and Northeastern this year.
The Crimson beat Northeastern 3-2 and suffered their only loss at home to BU, 1-0.
The Wildcat lost to Northeastern, 1-0, and beat BU, 4-1.
"They play a great brand of soccer," Welham said. "The ball is going to be on the ground., They move it at pace. The speed of play is going to be outstanding. I think we have to be very solid in the back. I think we have to press as a unit together in certain areas to really shut down the passing lanes. We're going to have to have a high level of intensity throughout the match. We know at this level with any letdown teams like that have the ability to punish you quickly."
UNH and Binghamton took turns punishing each other in the America East championship game.
The Wildcats jumped on the home team early and led 4-1 at halftime.
The Bearcats rallied in the second half and chipped away at the lead. They cut it to 4-3 and then with less than six minutes to play, tied it.
The Wildcats kept their composure.
"I think when it was getting tough and it was 4-3 and getting close, that's something that we're not super afraid of facing, just because we've been pushing through adversity all year," said junior back Ella Dudley. "I think we knew we had it. We just needed to hang in there."
Hang in there, they did, through overtime and into PKs.
"To see them pick themselves up and fight and go again was a big deal," Welham said. "A lot of teams couldn't do that. It was a big, raucous crowd and they were all over us in the second half and they didn't break. They didn't fall apart."
Last year, the Wildcats were the No. 6 and last seed in the tournament and advanced through the first and semifinal rounds on penalty kicks and then fell to No. 1 Vermont, 1-0 on a late goal in the title game.
They were the No. 2 seed at Binghamton and were confident going into PKs against the No. 1 Bearcats.
"They came up big when they had to," Welham said. "Cat made a huge save and forced a couple of misses. Abbi Maier, a freshman, had ice in her veins and nailed the penalty kick to win it."
The Wildcats started the season 2-4-0 and have gone unbeaten at 5-0-3 in their last eight contests.
They want a little more and will look to get it in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday at 5.
"If you look at our goals we set two days into preseason, our goal was the second round of the NCAA tournament, not the first round," said Kelly, who is a team captain along with Sheppard. "It's definitely still in the back of our head and we know we're not done."
Players Mentioned
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