Auburn, ME - In their second Yankee Conference matchup of the season, the Mustangs took on the Bobcats of Paul Smiths College, defending conference champions and USCAA DII runner up in the national championships. Recent history over the last few years against Paul Smiths has seen some extremely tight contests with last years game needing two overtime periods for a Bobcat 1-0 victory. Rule changes beginning this season have eliminated overtime in the regular season and in true Mustang v Bobcat fashion this one went right down to the wire again.
Coming off a strong performance against Albany College of Pharmacy the Mustangs had a week to prepare for Paul Smiths, a team that they expect will again contend for the top of the conference. In a contest that had both teams fighting strong winds, Central Maine struck first in the fourth minute when Mya Sirois (Monmouth, ME) put a ball through the Bobcat defense that found Lakyn Hink (Porter, ME) breaking to goal. Hink notched her 3rd goal of the season to put the Mustangs up 1-0. The lead would only last about ten minutes however, because a Central Maine foul in the box gave Paul Smiths a penalty kick and midfielder Katrien Roefs buried it to knot up the score at 1-1. The rest of the half would see the Mustangs trying to take advantage of the wind in their favor before having to play against it in the second half. The end to end game saw both teams looking to gain an edge but the half would end at 1-1.
The second half, with Central Maine playing against the wind, they tried to keep the ball low in feeding it up to their mids and forwards and this time it was Paul Smiths launching some long punts that were landing well beyond midfield. Both teams had defensive units that just would not break and the fast paced game continued up and down the field but neither team would find the net again and the game would end in a 1-1 draw.
Mustangs Head Coach Rob Rodriguez commented afterward, "We're starting to find out who we are as a team now that the pressure of the conference games is here. We've had two solid games against the top two Yankee Conference teams so we now know we can compete with the best. Our difficult schedule with multiple back to backs is what prepares us for this part of the season."
Anna Thrasher made 1 save on 2 shots on goal, while freshman keeper Emma Knowles (Manchester, ME) made 6 saves on 7 shots on goal to go the distance for Central Maine.
The Mustangs are back in action next Sunday, Oct 4 in a non-conference home game, the first leg of a home and home series against Husson University.
