Maine Maritime Academy picked up their first home victory of the season with an 11-9 North Atlantic Conference win over Johnson State College, on Sunday afternoon at Ritchie Field.
Ally Fuehrer opened up the scoring for the Mariners with an unassisted strike at 28:31, and less than a minute later Rachael Redles added an unassisted goal of her own to put the Mariners up 2-0 at 27:59. The pair teamed up as Fuehrer grabbed her second of the day with 23:48 remaining.
Nichole Weeks put Johnson State on the board with 18:13 remaining in the first half to cut the Mariner lead to just two goals. Tori Cooper and Taylor O'Malley grabbed back-to-back goals to extend the Maine Maritime lead to 5-1 but the Badgers responded with a pair of goals from Kyle Aither and Weeks to bring it within two goals with six minutes remaining in the first half.
Redles found the back of the net on a free position shot, and Fuehrer secured the hat trick in the final minutes of the half to send the Mariners into the intermission with a 7-3 lead.
O'Malley added her second goal of the game on an unassisted score at 27:44. Johnson State outscored the Mariners 7-2 to close the gap to 10-9 with 7:22 remaining. Fuehrer capitalized on a Badger yellow card, sniping the ball past Johnson's goalie, Samantha Jankowski to reestablish a two-point lead on a free position shot.
The Mariners hung on defensively to pick up the victory and improve to 2-8 overall and 2-4 in the North Atlantic Conference. The Badgers fall to 2-8 on the season and 1-5 in the conference.
Fuehrer ended the afternoon with five goals and an assist to lead the Mariner attack, while adding three caused turnovers, a pair of ground balls and a draw control. O'Malley contributed three goals and an assist while scooping up three ground balls and causing three turnovers.
Redles posted a two-goal, three-assist showing while adding a caused turnover and a ground ball, and Cooper added the other goal for the Mariners, while scooping up a game-high seven ground balls, causing three turnovers and three draw controls. Defensively Abby Yeo recorded five caused turnovers and four ground balls, and Ashlee Knight stopped five shots in net to pick up the victory for the Mariners.
Weeks concluded the afternoon with a game-high six goals, leading the Badgers with five draw controls, and adding three ground balls and a caused turnover. Aither added a pair of goals and an assist for Johnson State, and Shannon Rooney added a goal and two assists. Jankowski stopped 16 shots in net.
The Mariners will return to action this Tuesday, April 14 as they host Maine-Farmington at 4:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Farmington but has been relocated to Ritchie Field. Johnson will host Castleton on Saturday, April 18th at 1:00pm.