UNE Blanks Southern Maine 7-0

GORHAM, Maine – Senior Kayla Hamel (Lewiston, Maine) scored twice, once in each half, to lead a high-powered University of New England Noreasters' offense to a 7-0 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a non-conference women's soccer game Tuesday afternoon at Hannaford Field.

The Noreasters extended their winning streak to four games and improves their overall record to 10-3 with the victory.  Southern Maine falls to 3-9 overall suffering its sixth consecutive loss.

Hamel scored the first of her two goals in the 19th minute for the game-winner.  Hamel benefitted from a well-played ball from senior Jackie Dickerson (Windham, N.H.), collecting the pass at the top of the box and burying it with a low driven shot to the near post.  Sophomore Edie Pallozzi (Windham, Maine/Deering) made it 2-0 in the 34th minute, settling the ball out of the air on a service from junior Devon Wolfenden (East Longmeadow, Mass.) as UNE took the lead into the half time break.

The UNE offense kicked it into high gear to start the second half, as Hamel made it a 3-0 lead in the 48th minute with a terrific individual effort.  Hamel won the ball in the Huskies' defensive third and then broke into the box beating a pair of USM defenders to score an unassisted goal with a finessed ball into the lower far post. With a 3-0 lead in hand, UNE added four more goals scoring in the 57th, 60th, 70th and 73rd minutes on goals by junior Taylor Littlefield (Sanford, Maine) ,Wolfenden, freshman Taylor Usko (Sunapee, N.H.) and junior Brionne Turcotte (Goffstown, N.H.) respectively.

UNE junior goalkeeper Brielle Robinson (Monson, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson Academy) did not record a save in 69:05 of action to earn the win. Robinson was relieved by freshman Emily Ashman (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand).  Ashman played 10:58 without recording a save before giving way to classmate Molly Early (Newport, N.H./Stevens) for the final 9:57.  Early also did not record a save as UNE held a 28-3 advantage in shots.  USM senior goalkeeper Marissa Temple (Grafton, Mass.) made 12 saves for the Huskies.

Southern Maine returns to Little East Conference play on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) when it travels to Eastern Connecticut.  UNE travels to Wentworth Institute on Saturday (12:30 p.m.) for a Commonwealth Coast Conference game.