BURLINGTON, Vt. - Senior Sarah DeStefano (Elliot, Maine) scored a season-high four goals and freshman Olivia Hatfield (Alpharetta, Ga.) made a career-high 18 stops to lead the Vermont Catamounts past visiting UMBC, 11-6, in America East Women's Lacrosse action at Moulton Winder Field on Saturday afternoon.

The score was knotted 3-3 as the two teams went into halftime. The Catamounts opened up the game with four straight tallies to start the second half and take a 7-3 lead with 23:43 left in the contest. DeStefano scored three straight in the rally, including back-to-back goals, three seconds apart off assists from Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass.).

UMBC stopped the rally with a goal at the 18:18 mark from Kara Dorr, but DeStefano scored her fourth straight goal at 17:13 on an 8m shot to give UVM an 8-4 advantage. The Retrievers scored twice more in the half to climb back within three, 9-6, but would not get any closer.

The Catamounts scored a pair of goals, from Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario) and Haigh, in the final three minutes to hold off the Retrievers.

Millar added three goals, two assists and six draw controls for the Catamounts. She extended her consecutive points streak to 57 straight games, which is the longest in the country.

UMBC received contributions from six different players on the offensive side of the ball and Kate Quick made nine stops for the Retrievers.

Vermont improves to 7-4 overall and moves to 2-0 in America East. UMBC falls to 5-6 on the year and evens its league record to 1-1.

The Catamounts return to action on Wednesday (April 1) when they travel to Albany for a 3:00 p.m. game. The Great Danes upset nationally ranked UNH, 16-15 in overtime, and most recently earned a 19-15 win over Harvard.

GAME NOTES: Hatfield's 18 saves are the most by a UVM goalie since Meaghan Hanley '08 made 19 stops in a loss at Albany on April 14, 2007. Millar enters her senior season already owning the UVM career records for points (219), assists (91), ground balls (211) and draw controls (315). After the UMBC game she is three goals shy of adding the all-time leader in goals scored to her impressive resume of achievements. Vanessa Cox '05 is the all-time leader in goals scored at Vermont, netting 133 during her four-year career. Millar is also 14 draw controls shy of becoming the all-time leader in NCAA Division I history.

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BURLINGTON , Vt. - The UMBC women's lacrosse team (5-6, 1-1 AEC) fell to America East rival Vermont (7-4, 2-0 AEC) by a score of 11-6 Saturday afternoon at the Catamounts' Moulton Winder Field.

The score was knotted at 3-3 at halftime, but Vermont came out of the gates on fire, scoring the first four goals of the period in just over six minutes of action to take control of the game, 7-3. Attack Sarah DeStefano scored three straight during that span, including two goals just three seconds apart.

The Retrievers tallied three of the next five goals to pull to within 9-6, but a pair of late Vermont goals gave the hosts the 11-6 victory.

Six different players got on the scoreboard for the Retrievers, including sophomore midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake), who posted two points on a goal and UMBC's only assist.

DeStefano led all scorers with four goals, while Vermont midfielder Kristen Millar recorded a game-high five points on three goals and two assists.

UMBC junior goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) made nine saves, while Vermont keeper Olivia Hatfield stopped a career-high 18 shots.

The Retrievers return to action on Wednesday, April 1, when they host America East rival Binghamton at 4:00 p.m. at UMBC Stadium.

2009-03-28