ORONO, Maine – For the second-straight season, Maine is atop the America East women’s soccer world! The Black Bears scored a pair of early goals and sealed the outcome with a late tally en route to a 3-0 win over New Hampshire to capture the 2024 league title on Sunday in front of a large crowd at Maine’ Mahaney Diamond.
Top-seeded Maine’s defense, led by first-team All-Conference standout Myla Schneider, pitched the shutout and did not allow a goal all tournament. Schneider was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
The Black Bears, who extended their unbeaten streak to 13 games, will learn their NCAA draw during the selection show on Monday at 4 p.m. It will be broadcast on NCAA.com.
Jordane Pinette, a second-team All-Conference choice, started the scoring for Maine right out the gate scoring off of a deflection just three minutes into the contest.
New Hampshire (12-5-1) had its best scoring chance in the sixth minute but Grace Wilson, who had three saves on the day for the Black Bears, made a diving stop on Anna Hewlett’s free kick attempt from 25 yards out.
Maine (13-1-3) increased its lead to 2-0 at the 11:12 mark when Abby Kraemer sent home her seventh goal of the season off of a feed from her sister, Kayla.
The score stayed 2-0 in favor of Maine until Lara Kirby, last year’s Most Outstanding Player, delivered an insurance tally in the 67th minute off of a setup from Abby Kraemer and Victoria Dungey.
Myla Schneider, Abby Kraemer and Kirbky were joined as All-Championship choices by teammate Emma Scheider, New Hampshire’s Elizabeth Finn, Megan Logue and Abbi Maier. Also making the team for their stellar play in the tournament were UMass Lowell’s Megan Banzi and Emma Mitchell, Binghamton’s Brooke Herber and MacKenzie Ryder and Bryant’s Laney Ross.
Kirkby earned the Elite 18 Award for having the highest GPA among student-athletes competing in the championship. The senior has a 3.98 GPA majoring in biology.
Visit Championship Central box scores, highlights and recaps from each round in addition to team tournament history and more.
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -