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University of New Hampshire Athletics
The UNH women's soccer team plays Siena tonight and the men play BU on Sunday at 5 in Wildcat Stadium.
Photo by: Rick Wilson
8/25/2022 11:35:00 AM | Field Hockey, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, UNH Insider
No. 9 'Cats on ESPNU Tonight; Soccer, Volleyball, Field Hockey Ramp Up
DURHAM, N.H. – It's on.
The University of New Hampshire women's soccer team already kicked things off with a two-game road trip to New York state – the Wildcats lost a tight game at Syracuse and then knocked off St. Francis College Brooklyn – to get the 2022-23 season started.
UNH's athletic calendar - the first in the tenure of new Director of Athletics Allison Rich - shifts into high gear now.
Women's soccer opens a busy on-campus schedule of events with a match against Siena on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
The men's soccer team begins play in arguably the most high-profile college soccer game in the nation on Thursday night, featuring a battle between a pair of Top 20 teams: No. 9 UNH at No. 20 Maryland. The 6 p.m. contest will be shown on ESPNU.
"I'm buzzing, I'm really excited," said Wildcat grad student and midfielder Rory O'Driscoll after practice Tuesday, just before getting on the bus to start the trip to Maryland. "I mean. It's such a historic program. It will be a test for sure, but it will be a good one."
There are tests aplenty to go around.
Four Wildcat teams, including men's soccer with a tussle against Boston University at 5 p.m. on Sunday night in Wildcat Stadium, will have at least one home game between Thursday and the end of the weekend.
The volleyball team plays four games as the host of the Holly Young Invitational.
Here's how the opening let's-play-a-bunch of-'em, no-holds-barred long weekend shapes up.
Women's soccer
The Wildcats fell, 2-1, at Syracuse on Thursday and won, 1-0, at St. Francis College Brooklyn on Sunday.
Sally Rainey, a redshirt freshman out of West Lebanon, N.H., came through in a big way in the next-person-up department.
Last season, Rainey was a backup to Cat Sheppard, who played every minute of every game through the season.
Sunday, Sheppard, a grad student, left with an injury before the game was 20 minutes old. Rainey played nearly 74 minutes and completed the shutout.
"Sally stepped in admirably and helped us get over the line and get a win and the shutout," said coach Steve Welham. "Cat's had amazing longevity, so steady and so capable, extremely capable, in everything she does. It's a nice calming influence to have her back there. The cool thing is knowing we have that depth again and having someone step up and do that is a good sign for the future."
Welham was unsure who will get the start Thursday night against Siena, but Sheppard is not expected to be sidelined for long.
Volleyball
The Wildcats open their season at 10 a.m. on Friday against Merrimack College in Lundholm Gymnasium in the first game of the Holly Young Invitational.
The other teams in the tournament are St. Francis Brooklyn, St. Peter's University of New Jersey and Hartford.
UNH, led by senior setter Wren Macaulay, plays St. Francis Brooklyn at 4 p.m. on Friday, St. Peter's at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Hartford at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
"There's a lot of history with Holly Young and what she means to our program," said UNH coach Chris Feliciano. "To have the ability to play volleyball at a high level in her memory is significant. What's great is I asked our kids the other day how many or your parents are coming and pretty much everyone's are."
Holly Young was a UNH volleyball player who arrived on campus in 2004 and was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma shortly after her redshirt freshman year. After a valiant fight against the rare cancer, she passed away on Jan. 24, 2008 at the age of 22.
After the Holly Young Invitational, UNH plays in tournaments at Villanova, the University of Tennessee and George Mason and a match at Merrimack before beginning the America East portion of the schedule with a home game against UAlbany on Sept. 30.
Field hockey
Robin Balducci begins her 32nd season leading the UNH field hockey team with a game at Quinnipiac on Friday at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats follow that with a two-game homestand against Boston University on Sunday at 1 p.m. and Providence on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m.
"We're coming off two very good exhibition games," Balducci said. "We have a nice mix with a core group of six seniors or graduate students with eight freshmen. It's a nice mix of leadership with some good, young talent that we're pretty excited about."
Senior Jemma Woods, who has started all but two games her freshman year since arriving in Durham, returns to lead the defense.
Junior Lindsay Lee is back, too. She led the team in assists last year with nine and was second in scoring with four goals and the nine assists for 17 points. Senior Ava Mariani had four goals last year and senior Jaiden Wittel and junior Lily Rothwell each had three.
A 1985 UNH grad, Balducci was a field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse standout. She was the starting goalkeeper on the 1985 NCAA champion Wildcat lacrosse team.
Men's soccer
Opening the season against tradition-rich Maryland at lively Ludwig Field, continues coach Marc Hubbard's endeavor to put his team up against the best competition around.
Maryland has won three NCAA championships (in 2005, 2008, 2018) under Sasho Cirovski, who is in his 30th season with the Terps since moving in after a couple of years at the University of Hartford.
Cirovski has led Maryland to 21 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, the second longest streak in the country.
"We set this one up with Maryland early on," Hubbard said. "It gives us a target all spring, all summer to look forward to and get ready for, there's no shortage of motivation within it. The environment is something we want to play in and mimic as soon as possible. We know it's going to be a tight, tight match."
Maryland finished 12-4-2 last year. The Terrapins were upset in the first round of the NCAA tourney at home by Long Island University, 1-0.
The Wildcats open a three-game homestand on Sunday at 5 p.m. against Boston University. They play Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. and Florida International University, ranked No. 18 in the preseason, on Thursday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.
The University of New Hampshire women's soccer team already kicked things off with a two-game road trip to New York state – the Wildcats lost a tight game at Syracuse and then knocked off St. Francis College Brooklyn – to get the 2022-23 season started.
UNH's athletic calendar - the first in the tenure of new Director of Athletics Allison Rich - shifts into high gear now.
Women's soccer opens a busy on-campus schedule of events with a match against Siena on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
The men's soccer team begins play in arguably the most high-profile college soccer game in the nation on Thursday night, featuring a battle between a pair of Top 20 teams: No. 9 UNH at No. 20 Maryland. The 6 p.m. contest will be shown on ESPNU.
"I'm buzzing, I'm really excited," said Wildcat grad student and midfielder Rory O'Driscoll after practice Tuesday, just before getting on the bus to start the trip to Maryland. "I mean. It's such a historic program. It will be a test for sure, but it will be a good one."
There are tests aplenty to go around.
Four Wildcat teams, including men's soccer with a tussle against Boston University at 5 p.m. on Sunday night in Wildcat Stadium, will have at least one home game between Thursday and the end of the weekend.
The volleyball team plays four games as the host of the Holly Young Invitational.
Here's how the opening let's-play-a-bunch of-'em, no-holds-barred long weekend shapes up.
Women's soccer
The Wildcats fell, 2-1, at Syracuse on Thursday and won, 1-0, at St. Francis College Brooklyn on Sunday.
Sally Rainey, a redshirt freshman out of West Lebanon, N.H., came through in a big way in the next-person-up department.
Last season, Rainey was a backup to Cat Sheppard, who played every minute of every game through the season.
Sunday, Sheppard, a grad student, left with an injury before the game was 20 minutes old. Rainey played nearly 74 minutes and completed the shutout.
"Sally stepped in admirably and helped us get over the line and get a win and the shutout," said coach Steve Welham. "Cat's had amazing longevity, so steady and so capable, extremely capable, in everything she does. It's a nice calming influence to have her back there. The cool thing is knowing we have that depth again and having someone step up and do that is a good sign for the future."
Welham was unsure who will get the start Thursday night against Siena, but Sheppard is not expected to be sidelined for long.
Volleyball
The Wildcats open their season at 10 a.m. on Friday against Merrimack College in Lundholm Gymnasium in the first game of the Holly Young Invitational.
The other teams in the tournament are St. Francis Brooklyn, St. Peter's University of New Jersey and Hartford.
UNH, led by senior setter Wren Macaulay, plays St. Francis Brooklyn at 4 p.m. on Friday, St. Peter's at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Hartford at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
"There's a lot of history with Holly Young and what she means to our program," said UNH coach Chris Feliciano. "To have the ability to play volleyball at a high level in her memory is significant. What's great is I asked our kids the other day how many or your parents are coming and pretty much everyone's are."
Holly Young was a UNH volleyball player who arrived on campus in 2004 and was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma shortly after her redshirt freshman year. After a valiant fight against the rare cancer, she passed away on Jan. 24, 2008 at the age of 22.
After the Holly Young Invitational, UNH plays in tournaments at Villanova, the University of Tennessee and George Mason and a match at Merrimack before beginning the America East portion of the schedule with a home game against UAlbany on Sept. 30.
Field hockey
Robin Balducci begins her 32nd season leading the UNH field hockey team with a game at Quinnipiac on Friday at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats follow that with a two-game homestand against Boston University on Sunday at 1 p.m. and Providence on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m.
"We're coming off two very good exhibition games," Balducci said. "We have a nice mix with a core group of six seniors or graduate students with eight freshmen. It's a nice mix of leadership with some good, young talent that we're pretty excited about."
Senior Jemma Woods, who has started all but two games her freshman year since arriving in Durham, returns to lead the defense.
Junior Lindsay Lee is back, too. She led the team in assists last year with nine and was second in scoring with four goals and the nine assists for 17 points. Senior Ava Mariani had four goals last year and senior Jaiden Wittel and junior Lily Rothwell each had three.
A 1985 UNH grad, Balducci was a field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse standout. She was the starting goalkeeper on the 1985 NCAA champion Wildcat lacrosse team.
Men's soccer
Opening the season against tradition-rich Maryland at lively Ludwig Field, continues coach Marc Hubbard's endeavor to put his team up against the best competition around.
Maryland has won three NCAA championships (in 2005, 2008, 2018) under Sasho Cirovski, who is in his 30th season with the Terps since moving in after a couple of years at the University of Hartford.
Cirovski has led Maryland to 21 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, the second longest streak in the country.
"We set this one up with Maryland early on," Hubbard said. "It gives us a target all spring, all summer to look forward to and get ready for, there's no shortage of motivation within it. The environment is something we want to play in and mimic as soon as possible. We know it's going to be a tight, tight match."
Maryland finished 12-4-2 last year. The Terrapins were upset in the first round of the NCAA tourney at home by Long Island University, 1-0.
The Wildcats open a three-game homestand on Sunday at 5 p.m. against Boston University. They play Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. and Florida International University, ranked No. 18 in the preseason, on Thursday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Men's Soccer
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/ Women's Soccer
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/ Women's Soccer
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/ Field HockeySunday, October 04
Wednesday, September 30
Wednesday, September 16
Wednesday, September 09