NAC Women's Soccer Tournament Page

CASTINE--Maine Maritime Academy is the No. 3 seed in the East Division of the 2024 North Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament that gets underway this weekend. The Mariners will face second-seeded Lesley in the NAC East Quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at host Husson University, which will play UMaine-Farmington in a No. 1 vs No. 4 seed matchup in the other quarterfinal.

Game Information: The NAC East Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be held at John P. Boucher Field in Bangor, Maine. Husson Athletics will provide live video and livestats of the games, as well as charge admission. Saturday's winners will play the following day in the conference "final four" with a semifinal kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m.

Records: Maine Maritime is 7-5-4 overall (2-4-2 on the road) and finished 5-3-2 in conference play, while Lesley is 9-6-2 on the season (5-5 on the road) and 6-3-1 in the NAC. This is the first neutral site game for both teams.

What's at Stake: The East and West winners will meet in the NAC championship game on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the East champion.

Series History: Lesley won the regular season with a 4-1 road win and 3-3 draw at home just last Saturday. But the Mariners hold a 7-4-1 lead all-time, and this will be the first meeting not played in Castine or in Massachusetts.

Anchor Points: Maine Maritime has tallied 36 goals and allowed 32 (plus-4 differential)...the Mariners are 6-0-1 this season when scoring the first goal...the squad ranks second in the NAC with 99 corner kicks and third with 267 shots (Lesley is second with 343)...the Mariners are the defending NAC champions and have won the conference tournament in three of the last four years (not including the 2020 COVID-19 season)...senior defender Hazel Stoddard (1 goal and 2 assists for 4 total points) was the 2023 NAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.

Mariners to Watch: Senior Kirra Magana is one of the nation's leading scorers with a NAC-best 49 points on a conference- and career-high 21 goals and seven assists...she also tops the conference in shots (85), shots on goal (46) and game-winning goals (6)....the goals and point totals are single-season school records... sophomore goalie Isa Thesing has a 7-5-4 record, 2.03 goals-against average, four shutouts (NAC, 2nd), 71 saves (NAC, 4th) and .696 save percentage...midfielder Hadley Stoddard is one of the top freshmen standouts in the NAC while ranking second on the team in point-scoring (9) and assists (4)...11 players have registered at least one point for MMA this fall.

Coach Bill Ashby (UMaine-Machias '91): The founder of the first Mariners women's soccer team in 1997 is in his second stint at the Academy, where he also coached the men's side from 1992 to 1998...Ashby, who has over 450 coaching wins at the collegiate level in his three-decades-long career, came back to MMA over the summer after retiring as the athletic director and soccer coach at UMaine-Fort Kent.

Lesley Notes: Senior forward Abby Kalou leads the offense with eight goals and 20 total points...junior midfielder Zoe Curtaz is the team's top playmaker with five assists and has scored five goals for 15 points...the Lynx have six players with double-digit points...Lesley has scored 42 goals and allowed 18 for a plus-26 differential, which tops the NAC...the Lynx also have the stingiest defense...goalkeepers senior Lauren Lacy (900 MP) and junior Madison Reed (630) platooning, with the former sporting a 9-2-2 record, 1.10 GAA, 21 saves and .656 save percentage and the latter fashioning a 3-4 mark, 1.00 GAA, 31 saves and .816 save percentage.