On Sunday, the seniors of the women’s soccer team set foot on Retriever Soccer Park for potentially their final home game of their college careers. The Retrievers faced conference rival and defending America East champions University of New Hampshire. The end result would be a cause for celebration as the Retrievers defeated New Hampshire 2-0 on senior day.
“Our mentality, especially for senior day, was to play for seniors, play hard and play together,” said Head Coach Leslie Wray, “Be positive and fight through some of the heartbreaks that we’ve had and to manage the game.”
The Retrievers wasted no time taking the game away from New Hampshire, thanks to junior forward Destinee Morris. Morris earned her third goal of the season after scoring the game-winning goal in the ninth minute of the game.
Senior forward Amanda Dailey handed New Hampshire the final blow, securing the game with a second goal for UMBC in the 68th minute. New Hampshire was able to deflect Dailey’s first shot, but she recovered rebound and scored on her second attempt.
“It’s special anytime you have a senior score, especially when some of the last three people who touched it were seniors,” said Wray, “Bria [Bass] had a nice cross, Gabby [Boehmer] a nice head and Amanda the finish. [It was] a nice combination of seniors coming together.”
Senior goalkeeper Jen Nance also produced an impactful performance for the Retrievers on senior day. Nance earned her third shutout of the season with six saves, five of which came from the second half.
After the game, New Hampshire falls to a 4-3 conference record and currently sits in second place in the America East. UMBC improves to 2-2-2, and holds sixth place in the conference. The top six teams in the America East will qualify for the postseason tournament.
With only two games remaining in the season, the Retrievers will travel to New York to face Binghamton University on Thursday, and Stony Brook University on Sunday. Binghamton is ranked last in the conference, and Stony Brook is ranked fourth.
“It’s always tough,” said Wray about going on the road for the final two games, “The best thing is that you’re never too far out of the running. We’re staying focused and we know we can get results on the road. We know we can get the win, but we have to be focused and ready to play.”
