UNH Edged 3-2 in Overtime of America East Quarterfinal by Maine

Thursday, November 2

Lowell, Mass

3 PM

University of New Hampshire

(12-7)

Maine

(8-11)

Maine

UNH

Photo by: Joey Walker

UNH Edged 3-2 in Overtime of America East Quarterfinal by Maine

11/2/2023 6:36:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

LOWELL, Mass. – Nicole Poulakis (Ajax, Ontario) and Kathelijne Knuttel (Groningen, Netherlands) both scored a goal but the University of New Hampshire field hockey team was edged 3-2 in overtime by the University of Maine in Thursday's America East quarterfinal at UMass Lowell's Wicked Blue Field.

Poulakis' goal at 53:30 tied the game, 2-2, to send the game into overtime. Knuttel's tally had tied the score late in the first quarter. Jemma Woods (Frimley, England), the America East Goalkeeper of the Year, was credited with five saves, including one jn OT, and Abigail Johnson (Lincoln University, Pa.) made a defensive save.

Maine's Poppy Lambert scored the first and last goals of the game as her overtime score ended the game at 68:07. Jayde Temby made eight saves, including one in the extra session.

UNH, when earned the tourney No. 3 seed with a 6-2 conference record, ends the season at 12-7. Sixth-seeded Maine advances to the semifinal with a 8-11 record.

FIRST QUARTER

Maine converted a penalty corner into a 1-0 lead when Lamber scored on a direct shot from the top of the circle.
Knuttel tie the score, 1-1, at 14:01. Temby made the initial save on a shot in the middle of the circle by Leah Glidden (Kittery, Maine), but Knuttel corralled the rebound deep on the left and shot the ball into the open cage.

SECOND QUARTER

Both teams recorded two shots and one corner in the scoreless second quarter.

THIRD QUARTER

UNH earned a corner in the 34^th minute, but Maine quickly transitioned into an attack and Kate Richardson scored to put the Black Bears back in front, 2-1, at 34:14.
The Wildcats recorded a 6-1 shot advantage and generated the only two corners of the third quarter, but Maine led by a goal through 45 minutes.

FOURTH QUARTER

Poulakis pulled the 'Cats even, 2-2, when she dribble to the left post and lifted a shot into the cage.
Woods denied Mallory Mackesy in the 55^th and 56^th minutes to keep the game deadlocked.
Johnson's defensive save kept Mackesy's next shot in the 58^th minute out of the cage.
Olivia Geniti has a breakaway down the middle of the field with one minute remaining, but Woods charged off the line to make a sliding tackle to deny a shot and keep the score 2-2.

OVERTIME

In the 67^th minute, Tasmin Cookman (Woking, England) attacked down the left side of the circle. Her centering pass was kicked out by Temby, but Lindsay Lee (Eindhoven, Netherlands) collected the ball at the top left. Her rising blast was blocked aside by Temby.
Maine was awarded a corner at 67:57 and converted that into the game-wining goal by Lambert from the middle of the circle.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

New Hampshire finished with a 15-11 shot advantage that included 10-9 on goal.
Maine had a 4-3 edge in corners.

UNH NOTEBOOK

Poulakis, an All-Conference First Team and All-Academic Team honoree, scored her 14^th goal of the season. Her 14 goals and 39 points both rank second on the team.
The 39 points is tied for 10^th on UNH's list of single-season superlatives.
It was the first career defensive save for Johnson, who was an All-Rookie Team selection this year.
The end of the season also marks the end of UNH careers for six seniors and a pair of grad students – Glidden, Lee, Woods, Reagan Calcari (St. Louis, Mo.), Gigi Fay (Lancaster, Mass.), Lily Rothwell (Lynnfield, Mass.), Mari Shea (Hampstead, N.H.) and Olivia Watson (Easton, Pa.).
The 12 wins are the most by a Wildcats squad since the 2013 team went 15-7.
Cookman, the America East Offensive Player of the Year, finished the year with 18 goals and 41 points, both of which rank eighth on the program's single-season leaderboard.
In the regular season, UNH went 6-1 in games decided by one goal and that included 2-0 in overtime.

SERIES NOTEBOOK

UNH has a 30-22 lifetime record against Maine that includes 3-3 in the America East tourney.

COACH'S QUOTE – UNH head coach Robin Balducci
Opening comment
Disappointed with the result. I think this is a team that can do good things. We have a lot of firepower. I feel like we had our share of shots, we had our opportunities. In the third quarter we needed to put it away when we had it.

It was unfortunate that we didn't come out and finish a few early. That changes the tempo of the game. We've got the ability to tie it up but we need to put it away.

I feel for our players because we're a good team. I think that we fought back to tie it.

On the return of Kathelijne Knuttel
Kat is very strong, very talented. Her stick skills are really good. And that's exactly it. She's a goal scorer. She can put the ball in in front of the net and we missed her a lot. She helps take the attention off Tas and Nicole, and that was our M.O. in the beginning of the season.

On UNH's overtime chances
We had a lot of balls to goal that we didn't get touches on that would have been that dynamic goal in overtime. That deflection.

On the upperclassmen's leadership
Lindsay's leadership, Jemma's leadership has been invaluable to us.