Page 10 - The Bell Tower - Winter/Spring 2014

The Making of a Dynasty
UMFK Women Win First National Championship
The UMFK women won their first United States College Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship in South Burlington, Vermont. The top-seeded Lady Bengals defeated the third-ranked Falcons of Florida College, 4 to 1.
The Bengals received two goals each from sophomore midfielder Theresa Biggs (Cape Town, South Africa) and junior forward Whitney Sinclair (Dexter, Maine). Biggs opened the scoring in the 21st minute on an assist from freshman midfielder Victoria Dubois-Iredale (Montreal, Quebec) for the Bengals’ only score of the first-half. The ladies scored three unanswered goals in the second half. Sinclair scored two unassisted goals in the 53rd and 65th minute, while Biggs added her second goal, at the 56-minute mark, on an assist from sophomore forward Donike Ferreira (Montego Bay, Jamaica). Liz Morneault (Winterville, Maine), had the win in goal for the Lady Bengals.
Lady Bengals Retain National Crown
The Lady Bengals captured their second-consecutive USCAA Soccer National Championship with a 2-1 win against Ohio Midwestern in Ashville, North Carolina. Lucas Levesque’s squad finished the 2011 campaign with a perfect 17-0 record.
UMFK took a 1-0 lead into halftime on a goal by All-American forward, Whitney Sinclair. Midway through the second half, Sinclair scored her sec- ond goal of the day, which proved to be all that UMFK would need to com- plete its championship repeat. The Rams added a goal shortly thereafter, and made a frantic push near the end of the contest, but came up short.
The top-seeded Bengals advanced to the championship round by defeating the eighth-seed and host school, Warren-Wilson College (Swannanoa, NC), 4-0 in the opening round of play on goals by sophomore forward Jenn Colpitts (Scarborough, Maine); two by Donike Ferriera; and
a tally from junior midfielder and Academic All-American, Jamie Pelletier (Eagle Lake, Maine). The ladies defeated fifth-seeded Marygrove College (Detroit, Michigan) in one of the tournament’s semi-final games, 2-1, win- ning the contest in a shootout, 5-3.
UMFK Women denied three-peat in OT defeat
2012
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2011
Daemen College (Amherst, New York) scored in the fifth minute of overtime to defeat the UMFK Lady Bengals, 1-0, in the USCAA National Championship game held again in Asheville, North Carolina. Daemen’s victory denied the two-time defending national champions a rare national championship “three-peat.” UMFK finished the year at 16-1.
The Wildcat’s victory was its first against the Bengals all season. The teams had battled three previous times during the regular season, with UMFK emerging victorious each time; all by a single goal. In the cham- pionship contest, the teams played evenly. Overall shots were 16-15 in UMFK’s favor and the Lady Bengals also had a 7-6 edge in shots-on-goal.
The Lady Bengals had defeated the Albany (New York) College of Pharmacy 7-1 in the semifinals and host school, Warren Wilson College, 6-0 in the opening round to reach the championship game.
The 2012 Lady Bengals were led by team captain and midfielder Theresa Biggs. Coach Lucas Levesque’s squad employed a mix of experi- enced veterans, as well as a heralded incoming class. First-year forward, Katherine Ferland (Montreal, Quebec), emerged as the team’s primary offensive weapon. First-year goalkeeper, Kimika Forbes (Trinidad & Tobago), was a perfect 16-0 with nine shut-outs during the regular season.
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