Sept. 17, 2006

Box Score

ORONO, Maine - The Rhode Island women's soccer team suffered its fourth shutout of the season in a 2-0 loss to the undefeated Maine Black Bears (6-0-1) on Sunday, September 17. Freshman goalkeeper Amanda Thomas (State College, Pa.) recorded a career-high 10 saves for the Rams.

Rhody had an excellent scoring opportunity near the 20th minute when Maine keeper Jasmine Phillips came out and tried to clear the ball, but instead saw it ricochet off a URI attacker in the direction of the goal. Unfortunately for the Rams, a speedy Maine defender was able to get the ball before it crossed the goal line, preventing a URI lead.

Thomas came up big for the Rams in the 31st minute when she ran back to collect a Marie-Andree Canuel shot that initially went off her finger tips and continued towards the net. Her efforts kept the Black Bears off the board for another six minutes until Christine LaBelle beat the Rhody defense and took a shot that Thomas was able to block, but not control. Maine's leading scorer, Laura Harper, was positioned in just the right place to tap the rebound ball into an open net to put the Black Bears up 1-0.

Maine held onto its one-goal lead until midway through the second half when McKayla Bell made a long run down the field and snuck a pass from Canuel over Thomas' head and under the crossbar for the insurance goal.

In all, Rhode Island was outshot, 19-8, including a 12-5 disadvantage in the first half. Junior Deb Nelson (Chepachet, R.I.) led URI with a team-high four shots.

The Rams (3-5) return to action on Wednesday, September 20 when they travel to Boston College for a 7:00 p.m. match against Eagles.