UMaine soccer dominated Florida Worldwide College in heartbreaking loss
The College of Maine’s soccer group did nearly all the things it wanted to do to ensure that the Soccer Championship Subdivision group to upset Soccer Bowl Subdivision group Florida Worldwide College in Miami on Saturday evening.
However the Black Bears, who misplaced 5 video games by 4 factors or much less throughout their 2-9 marketing campaign final season, wound up with one other heartbreaking loss, 14-12.
FBS colleges have 22 extra scholarships and extra assets than FCS colleges. UMaine is now 4-26 towards FBS groups.
The Black Bears dominated the statistics, out gaining Florida Worldwide College 378-305, posting a large edge in possession of the ball (37:35-21:30) and racking up 24 first downs to their opponent’s 13.
Additionally they restricted Florida Worldwide College to a meager 13 dashing yards on 24 makes an attempt whereas UMaine gained 165 yards on 41 rushes.
“Maine performed extraordinarily laborious,” mentioned Florida Worldwide College head coach Mike MacIntyre following the sport.
UMaine second-year head coach Jordan Stevens mentioned he felt good about how we performed.
“We had been bodily, the fellows performed persistently all through the sport, and I used to be actually happy with the general execution for it being sport one,” he mentioned. “We battled all through the sport however got here up brief in the long run. Our protection did an ideal job. They shut them out within the second half.”
“It’s a sport we felt we must always have received, however we didn’t execute effectively sufficient to win the sport in the long run,” he added throughout Monday’s weekly Coastal Athletic Affiliation coaches media convention name.
UMaine’s protection registered three sacks by Izaiah Henderson, Vince Thomas and John Costanza and restricted Florida Worldwide College to a 3-for-12 exhibiting on third down and likewise stopping all three fourth-down conversion makes an attempt by the Panthers.
The Black Bears had an opportunity to take the lead early within the third interval, trailing 14-12.
They moved the ball to the Florida Worldwide College six-yard line however as an alternative of choosing a chip shot area aim on fourth-and-three, Stevens elected to attempt to decide up the primary down and operating again Tristen Kenan was stopped for a one-yard acquire.
“At the moment, we needed to be aggressive,” mentioned Stevens. “We wish to rating touchdowns. There was a whole lot of soccer left and I felt good about how we had been operating the ball and the way we had been enjoying on protection.”
Stevens mentioned he felt the group would get different probabilities to attain within the sport, however they by no means acquired shut sufficient once more to kick a area aim.
The Black Bears had two drives within the fourth quarter during which they reached Florida Worldwide College’s 27 and 34 yard traces, however quarterback Derek Robertson was sacked on third down performs, taking the group out of area aim place.
Kenan was named the convention’s Rookie of the Week because the true freshman rushed for 108 yards and a landing on 24 carries and likewise caught three passes for 26 yards.
“Amongst our first-year group, he has stood out together with his manufacturing in camp,” Stevens mentioned. “He has the power to make performs on his personal, he has nice steadiness and footwork, and he’s a tricky child, too. He runs actually laborious.”
Graduate pupil John Homosexual ran for 81 yards on 11 carries.
Anticipated operating again starter Tavion Banks was reportedly sidelined by shoulder harm.
UMaine will journey to play North Dakota State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. North Dakota State has received 9 of the final 12 FCS championships.
“It’s going to be an enormous problem for our soccer program,” Stevens mentioned. “However we’re actually wanting ahead to the problem.”
