STANDISH — The University of New England men’s cross country team nearly missed a perfect score, totaling 16 points with its five scoring runners in the first six finishers on the way to victory at the Saint Joseph’s College Duel on Saturday morning.

UNE topped the host Monks (50) and Lasell College (68) to capture the event for the third consecutive season.

Junior C.J. Vallie won the six-kilometer race, circling the course in a time of 21:29. Senior Peter LePage (21:37), first-year Jon Zalman (21:47) and senior Shane Murphy (21:51) finished second, third and fourth, respcectively, while senior Chad Lyons had a 22:09 performance to place sixth. Sophomore Paul Mangiafico cracked the Top 10, finishing ninth with a time of 22:42.

Nick Shuckrow prevented UNE from posting a perfect score by placing fifth for the host Monks.

Behind a first-place finish by junior Lexie Basiliere, the University of New England women’s cross country team defeated St. Joe’s and Lasell.

Basiliere beat out the Monks’ Amber Dostie by 12 seconds, finishing the five-kilometer loop in a time of 20:29 to claim her first collegiate victory.

First-year Angel Waters placed third overall with a time of 20:56 to get her career off to a strong start. First-year Emma Robidoux (fifth, 22:03), sophomore Steph Ostrowski (sixth, 22:13) and sophomore Deanna Richards (seventh, 22:31) also scored for Big Blue. After Richards, UNE had the next seven runners cross the finish line consecutively, showing off the squad’s outstanding depth.

Heather Eaton was fourth for St. Joe’s, which had a team score of 39, compared to the Nor’easters’ aggregate of 22. Lasell College had four runners finish ”“ one shy of posting a team score.

Both UNE teams will look to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday at the Saint Anselm College Shacklette Invitational, which starts at 11 a.m.

UNE volleyball splits opening matches

BIDDEFORD — Sophomores Amanda Linzmeyer and Jules Augustine combined for 28 kills to help Emerson College defeat the University of New England, 3-1, in non-conference women’s volleyball action Saturday morning at the Harold Alfond Forum. Set scores were 25-16, 22-25, 25-17, and 25-23.

First-year Brittany Schoelkopf added 10 winners for the Lions (1-0), while classmate Elaine Nichols racked up 42 assists. Defensive specialists first-year Sam Harton and sophomore Jessica Hamilton went for 14 and 11 digs, respectively.

For UNE (0-1), senior Leah Janelle dialed up 11 kills and sophomore Grayson Szczepaniak added eight to go with three blocks. First-year setters Brooke Gibbons and Kristen Falcinelli helped the attack with 28 assists. Gibbons, senior Rachel McGahie and sophomore Nikki Mathewson teamed up to register 32 of Big Blue’s 56 digs.

A 12-3 run midway through the first set allowed Emerson to turn an early deficit into a 15-9 cushion on the way to the opening frame. The Nor’easters gained momentum late in the second stanza and secured the last three points ”“ including two Szczepaniak kills to finish ”“ to level the contest at one set apiece.

The Lions had leads near the start of both the third and fourth sets, but found that the hosts would not go down easily in the waning moments of what was the final set. Four straight points by UNE tied things at 20-20, only to see Augustine restore the advantage for Emerson. A pair to attack errors by the Nor’easters made the deficit 23-20 before kills by Janelle and Falcinelli closed the gap to one. Augustine finished strong, though, sandwiching two more winners around one from Janelle to settle on the two-point final margin.

UNE rebounded later in the day, as the Nor’easters captured 11 of the last 12 points in the fourth set to finish off a 3-1 non-conference women’s volleyball victory against Newbury College. Set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 10-25, and 25-19.

Szczepaniak led a balanced attack for the Nor’easters (1-1) with eight kills, and Janelle contributed seven. Rachel McGahie and sophomore Erika Sawicki each tallied six winners, while first-year Teddi Kramer entered in the final stanza to register five kills. Gibbons and Falcinelli went for 21 and 13 assists, respectively, and Mathewson pulled up a team-high 14 digs.

For the Nighthawks, first-year Lina Miranda notched a match-best 12 kills to go with nine digs. Sophomore Courtney Banks added eight kills and factored in four blocks. First-year Maya Umoren, sophomore Kylie Kowalski, and sophomore Kataya Sykes combined for 18 addition kills and chipped in with parts of five blocks. First-year Heather Parish totaled 32 assists to help pace the offense, while senior Meghan McDermott had 14 digs and four service aces.

After UNE found a way to get through the initial two sets by slim margins, Newbury got on a roll in the 3rd frame and cruised to the 15-point decision. In the 4th, UNE faced an 18-13 deficit coming out of a timeout and received a kill from sophomore Cassie Desrochers that started a rally. Desrochers then stepped up to serve and the hosts polished off the ensuing eight points to seize control.

The Nor’easters are off for a week before entertaining another tri-match with Lasell College and Colby-Sawyer College on Sept. 6. The Nighthawks return home to face Suffolk University on Friday.

Field hockey falls to Keene State

KEENE, N.H. — Brittney Cardente scored with 43 seconds remaining to break a 1-all tie, giving the Keene State Owls a hard-fought 2-1 win over University of New England in a field hockey mutual season-opener Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.

The meeting was the first for the Nor’easters versus Keene State, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship a year ago.

Senior Erin Bibber got the Nor’easters on the scoreboard just inside the 20-minute mark, converting a feed from sophomore Nicole Matarozzo.

Cardente drew the Owls even 27:43 into the frame, converting on a penalty corner. Kayla Renaud was credited with an assist on the play.

Each team had their chances in the final 10 minutes of regulation before Cardente gave the hosts the victory, taking a feed from Renaud and blasting a shot past UNE sophomore goalkeeper Holly Smith.

The Owls, who led in shots (24-6) and penalty corners (10-1), got three saves from winning goalkeeper Shauna Whittemore.

Smith had a strong afternoon defending the cage for the Nor’easters, racking up a total of 15 stops.

UNE will look to square its record Wednesday when Husson University comes to Biddeford for a 6 p.m. non-conference game.