Auburn, ME - Back home after a wet, wild weekend in New York, the Mustangs faced a good NHTI Lynx team in an important Yankee Small College Conference matchup on Monday night. In an unusual format, the women's team played the night game after the men's game which may have contributed to a slow start. It was an important contest that the Mustangs needed to win to secure at least 2nd place in the conference.
It was not a great start with the Mustangs slow to the ball and sloppy in their receiving. However, part of the Mustangs style is being able to strike quickly after gaining possession and four minutes into the game a ball won by Lakyn Hink (Porter, ME) was quickly sent through the Lynx defense to Natalie Tracy (Oakland, ME) who blasted it by the NHTI keeper to put Central Maine ahead 1-0. Twenty minutes later Alexis Finn (Wales, ME) doubled the Mustangs lead off a pass by Madison Drew (Sabattus, ME).
The Lynx were not going to let this game get out of hand however and in the 29th minute Adrienne Dorr would get her first of the game on a penalty kick after a Mustang foul in the box to close the gap to a one goal differential. Less than two minutes later the same thing would happen at the other end of the field when Mya Sirois (Monmouth, ME) was fouled in the box and converted her penalty kick to put the Mustangs ahead 3-1 and it would stay that way into the halftime break.
The second half saw more energy from the Mustangs and improved play but still very much a back and forth game with both teams trading shots on each others keepers. With ten minutes left in the game Tracy would get her second of the game, again off a pass by Hink to put the Mustangs up 4-1. The Lynx would come back with a another by Dorr three minutes later but Central Maine was able to close it out again with some drives up the field and earned the 4-2 after a tough battle.
NHTI goalkeeper, Hailey Knight made, 11 saves in the loss and Central Maine keeper, Emma Knowles (Manchester, ME), had 10 saves for the win.
The Mustangs are back in action at home on Wednesday, Oct 11th at 4pm in a big Yankee Conference matchup against in-state rival, Southern Maine Community College. A win against SMCC would secure the program's first regular season conference championship and the #1 seed in the upcoming YSCC Conference Tournament.
