BURLINGTON, Vt. - Sophomore Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass.), the reigning America East Rookie of the Year, scored a game-high five goals and totaled seven points and freshman Allison Pfohl (Niskayuna, N.Y.), the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, added four goals and six points to lead the Vermont Catamounts to a 19-14 victory over Siena in women's lacrosse action at Moulton Winder Field.

Vermont improves to 2-2 on the year and snaps a two-game losing streak, while Siena evens its record to 1-1, suffering its first loss of the season.

"I am very pleased that we found a way to win against a much improved Siena team. They played hard and made us work for everything today," said Vermont head coach Jen Johnson.

Siena took control quickly, scoring 16 seconds into the contest, when Lindsey Rosecrans found the back of the net on an unassisted tally. The Catamounts took a 3-2 lead after back-to-back goals from Pfohl at the 5:55 mark. Vermont took a two-goal lead at the 12:36 mark on a goal from Sarah DeStefano (Eliot, Maine) and stretched it to three goals, 9-6, two minutes before the halftime buzzer on a goal from MacDonald. Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario) earned the assist.

Siena cut the lead to one with goals from Caitlin Mikel and Erin Hepper to make the score 9-8 with 26 minutes left in the contest. The Catamounts responded with seven straight goals, ignited by a goal from Millar and capped by a tally from Caitlyn Clark (Franklin Lakes, N.J.), to double up the Saints, 16-8, with 14 minutes remaining.

The Saints mounted a comeback, scoring three consecutive goals, but that was as close as Siena would get and UVM was able to hold on for the victory.

"Although we are pleased to pick up a win, we still need to find a way to compete as a unit for 60 minutes. There were a lot of good individual performances today that pulled us through, but we are still working to have everyone play well in the same game," continued Johnson.

Millar finished the game with two goals, three assists, seven draw controls and six caused turnovers for the Catamounts. Freshman Olivia Hatfield (Alpharetta, Ga.) made her third straight start in the cage and came up with 11 saves, eight in the second half.

Rosecrans led Siena with a team-high four goals and added three assists for seven points. Kristin Concordia got the start for Siena and made 12 saves before being relived for the final 14 minutes by Liz Peters.

Vermont embarks on a five-game road swing, beginning with three games on the West Coast, starting with a contest at Oregon on Sunday (March 8) at 4:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Kristen Millar extended her consecutive points streak to 51 games, the third longest in the country. She also moved to 56 draw controls from becoming the all-time leaders in draw controls at the NCAA Division I level.

2009-03-04