Owl teams prevail in Vermont
Owl men’s soccer team begins year with 2 victories
University of Maine-Presque Isle midfielder Joel Massa, a sophomore from Millbury, Mass., scored an unassisted goal at the 80:27 mark of the second half to give the Owls a 3-2 win over host Vermont Tech Saturday in the team’s season opener.
Early on, it looked like UMPI may pull away from the Knights as the Owls scored two goals within four minutes of each other in the first half. Brandon Caverhill, a sophomore from Caribou, scored the first Owl goal of 2012 with an unassisted tally at 18:48. Shortly after that, Jeremy Tarr, a junior from Ashland, found the back of the net to give UMPI a 2-0 advantage, the lead the team would take into halftime.
Just as it looked as though the Owls might be able to cruise to victory, VTC ended the shutout and tied the game with a scoring flurry of their own. Knights’ junior Hannes Fisher-Byrne assisted on Wellington Newton’s goal at 62:34 and then scored a game-tying goal at 64:15.
The score remained knotted at 2 apiece until Massa was able to break through with just under 10 minutes left to play in the game.
On Sunday, Massa scored two goals and assisted on a third as the UMPI men defeated the College of St. Joseph (Vt.), 4-1, to cap a 2-0 weekend. In addition to his two goals, Massa found Kobe Ashkir, a sophomore from Portland, for another Owl score.
The Owls will return to the pitch Thursday when they travel to Canada to face St. Thomas College of New Brunswick. The match is set to begin at 6 p.m.
Herring’s hat trick gives UMPI women win
Lainey Herring, a senior from Houlton, scored three times to lead the University of Maine-Presque Isle women’s soccer team to a 7-2 victory at Vermont Technical College Saturday. It was the first game of the season for both teams and the result gave new UMPI head coach Trevor Parent his first win.
The Owls’ Audra Kirk, a sophomore from Limestone, opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the match. The score remained 1-0 until Herring sandwiched her first two goals around a tally by sophomore Kallie Pelletier of Madawaska to give UMPI a commanding 4-0 first-half advantage.
After the Knights got on the board with a Ashley Lockerby goal, Chelsea Lynds-Beaulieu, a sophomore from Presque Isle, found the back of the net with less than a minute remaining to give UMPI a 5-1 lead at the break.
After Lockerby added her second goal of the game to bring the Knights to within three goals, Herring and Kylie Plourde, a freshman from Fort Fairfield each registered goals to arrive at the final margin.
The goals by Kirk, Pelletier, and Plourde were the first for each as collegiate athletes. For Herring, her three goals nearly matched her total goals scored all of last season (4).
UMPI will be on the road Thursday at St. Thomas University.
