The women’s soccer team dropped a hard-fought 2-0 decision to the very physical Maine Black Bears on Thursday October 20th at sunny Centennial Field. The loss dropped the Catamounts to a 8-7-1 record for the season and 4-2-1 in America East Conference play. UVM opened up the game by clanging a shot off the right post by freshman Lexie Kaknes five minutes into the game. Maine opened the scoring in the 27th minute on a low shot by Heather Hathorn to the far post past UVM keeper Laura Kissock. The score remained the same at the half, 1-0. Two minutes into the second half UVM missed another good scoring opportunity as Amy Cochran got her head on a corner kick, but couldn’t put in the game tying goal. Five minutes after that a very controversial call gave Maine a chance to put the game out of reach at 2-0. A Catamount defender broke up a breakaway in the box, but the Maine forward went down in the process, resulting in an unexplained foul on UVM. Vermont caught a lucky break as Kissock dove to her right, guessing for the left post, as Hathorn sent the ball ricocheting off the opposite post and out of bounds. However, only five minutes later Maine was able to tally their second goal. Kissock made a beautiful diving save, but couldn’t hold onto the ball, resulting in a rebound right on the goal line that Maine forward Erin Corey took full advantage of, booting it in for a 2-0 lead. The Cats continued to put on pressure and with 25 minutes left to play, a header by junior forward Cassandra VanLeeuwen was tipped out over the crossbar by Maine goalie Jasmine Phillips. The resulting corner kick brought another head-ball opportunity this time for Callie Ewlad who just missed the far post. UVM saw its final good chance with 6:30 left on the clock. Senior Jamie Koehnlein fired a shot from 25 yards out that Phillips tipped off the left post and across the box, but Vermont failed to corral the rebound. The score was no indication of the effort that the team made against one of America East’s best teams. The Catamounts had an unlucky day, putting two shots off the post, but sometimes that’s the way the ball bounces. Coach Kerry Dziczkaniec applauded the team’s effort, saying, “I’m proud of our team and the effort, but we needed more urgency in our passing game today. Our players are great students of the game and we learn lessons from each loss. What we learned today, we know how to fix.” Despite the loss, the team has already clinched a berth in the Conference Tournament, its first in seven years. They have also garnered regional recognition of late, ranking fifteenth in the Northeast Region for the first time in the history of the program.