BOSTON - Senior Sarah Dalton scored five goals and junior Erica Baumgartner poured in seven points to lead the 12th-ranked Boston University lacrosse team to an 18-7 win over Vermont in the America East semifinals on Thursday afternoon at Nickerson Field. The Terriers' 12th straight win propels them into the America East title game on Saturday (May 2) at 1:00 p.m., where they will be seeking their fifth straight conference crown.

Baumgartner scored four goals and added three assists for the Terriers, who improved to 14-3 overall this season after running the table in the America East regular season for the second year in a row. Junior Traci Landy also scored four goals for BU, while classmate McKinley Curro added six points (2g, 4a), junior Xan Weitzel scored twice and sophomore Alyssa Kovach chipped in a career-best five points with a goal and four assists.

Junior Rachel Klein made nine saves in goal for the Terriers as BU held a scant 24-22 edge in shots in the contest.

Freshman Allison Pfohl and sophomore Megan MacDonald each scored twice to pace the fourth-seeded Catamounts, who conclude their season with a 9-8 record. Freshmen Olivia Hatfield and Laura Barber split netminding duties, each making one save.

Dalton scored the first goal of the contest but was answered just over a minute later when Pfohl converted a free-position shot. Macdonals struck with 22:24 to go in the first to put the Catamounts up by one, but Baumgartner tied the score 50 seconds later and Landy followed up to give the Terriers a 3-2 lead with Kovach assisting on both scores.

MacDonald leveled the score once again on a free-position goal at 18:34, but after that Dalton scored to kick off a string of five unanswered goals - three from Dalton and two from Baumgartner - as BU took a lead it never relinquished. Pfohl got one back for the Catamounts, but Landy and Curro struck before the first half was through to stake the Terriers to a 10-4 lead at the break.

The second half saw an even more dominant Terrier squad reel off seven straight goals in a 13-minute stretch after the two sides traded tallies to open up the period. With BU sitting on an 18-5 lead with 14:29 to go, Vermont managed to get two more in the net down the stretch, but was unable to get back within 10 goals.

BU claimed a 15-14 edge in ground balls, led by a career-best six from sophomore Corcoran Downey, and doubled up Vermont in draw controls, coming away with an 18-9 advantage as Dalton and sophomore Rachel Collins controlled four draws each.

The Terriers, who ran the table in regular-season conference play, advance to the America East Championship game for the 11th straight year and will face 17th-ranked New Hampshire at Nickerson Field. The Terriers and the Wildcats will be meeting in the playoffs for the eighth straight season after BU posted a 9-8 come-from-behind victory in the latest meeting between the two rivals on April 1 in Durham, N.H.

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BOSTON - The No. 12 ranked Boston University Terriers, the top seed in the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship, cruised to an 18-7 victory over No. 4-seeded Vermont in the tournament semifinals at Nickerson Field on Thursday. America East Player of the Year, Sarah Dalton, led the Terriers with a game-high five goals and teammate McKinley Curro added six points.

UVM sophomore Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass.) converted an 8m shot at the 18:34 mark of the first half to even the score 3-3. Dalton scored 27 seconds later to ignite a five-goal outburst by the Terriers and open up an 8-3 lead. America East Rookie of the Year Allison Pfohl (Niskayuna, N.Y.) stopped the rally with a goal with 6:27 remaining in the half, but the Terriers would add two goals in the final minutes to take a 10-4 lead into halftime.

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2009-04-30