UNH women's soccer team to visit Harvard in NCAA tournament
Nov. 8—DURHAM — Steve Welham sees similarities between this year's University of New Hampshire women's soccer team and his first group in 2014. Both teams grew into the season and improved as it went on, the eighth-year Wildcats coach said.
They are also the only two teams in program history to win the America East Conference championship and qualify for the NCAA Division I tournament.
UNH (9-5-3, 5-1-2 AEC) learned Monday afternoon that it will play at sixth-seeded Harvard University (11-1-3, 5-0-2 Ivy League) in the first round on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The Wildcats secured their automatic NCAA tournament bid and AEC title with their penalty-kick victory at Binghamton University on Sunday. UNH and the Bearcats were tied at 4-4 after two 10-minute overtime periods. The Wildcats won the penalty-kick round, 3-2, after freshman Abbi Maier's championship-clinching goal.
"You can see the upper trajectory, as the schedule kind of shows that," Welham said after watching the NCAA Selection Show with his players at Wildcat Stadium. "It's been so exciting to see the care and the love that they have for each other. But for what they're doing on the field, they leave it out there every single day and, as a coach, you can't ask for much more than that."
The Wildcats went 3-4-0 over their first seven games. All were against out-of-conference opponents and six were decided by one goal. Their 2014 counterparts went 3-6-0 in out-of-conference play to open their season.
UNH midfielder Sarah Peternel, a junior from Wolfeboro, said the Wildcats were putting the pieces together over that opening stretch.
"We were still figuring out playing together and formations and players and stuff like that — just finding what worked for us and how we could come through that together," Peternel said. "We just figured it out as a team and got through it."
After a 2-1 loss to Albany to open AEC play on Sept. 18, UNH finished the regular season on a 5-0-2 run, earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
Welham said the Wildcats found the right chemistry and combination in the attacking third with sophomore Meghan Guarente (seven goals, seven assists), Maier (four goals, three assists) and junior Emily Bini (two goals, team-high eight assists).
Graduate student goalkeeper and captain Cat Sheppard and backs Alivia Kelly, Maddie Kolb, Keegan Mayer and Ella Dudley powered a UNH defense that allowed either one or no goals over its final seven regular-season games.
"We really developed into ourselves as the season went on," said UNH midfielder/forward Shayna Salis, a senior from Bedford. "We were in a good place for sure and we had a lot of heart and desire."
Maier scored both UNH goals in its 2-1 AEC semifinal triumph over rival Maine last Thursday. She broke a one-goal deadlock in the 86th minute with her header goal via assists from Guarente and Bini.
Guarente (two goals), Bini and Gudrun Haralz helped build UNH a 4-1 lead on Binghamton 30 minutes into Sunday's AEC final. The Bearcats forced overtime by scoring three goals over the final 40 minutes of regulation.
Maier's game-winning penalty-kick-round goal was a rocket of a shot that she drilled dead center into the Binghamton net. Her tally came after five scoreless tries by both teams.
"She was one that I was like, 'Wow, she's someone to look up to for sure,' and that everyone on our team looks up to," Salis said of Maier. "She just has that grit and heart on the field and she's a great teammate."
Salis and Peternel both said the Wildcats gained valuable experience in the AEC tournament that will help them in the NCAA tournament.
UNH will face a Crimson team that has outscored its opponents, 25-5, at home this season and finished unbeaten in Ivy League play for the first time since 2016.
"It's a lot of adversity to help us be ready for what can come and we're kind of ready for anything that we can get out on the field, almost," Peternel said.
"The tests will definitely help us, for sure," Salis said. "It's a mental battle, too. We're all in it together, we're all family and we're going to push through together — whatever it takes."
