BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Vermont Catamounts eased past the Niagara Purple Eagles, 17-8, in women's lacrosse action on Sunday afternoon. The Catamounts received 12 goals from four different freshmen – Kaitlyn Fuller (Jordan, N.Y.), Sara Buxton (Northfield, Ill.), Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass.) and Leigh Scordato (Ellington, Conn.).

"We did a good job executing our game plan today," said Vermont head coach Jen Johnson. "It was great to see our younger lineup step up and take advantage of the opportunity given to them. We were much better at finishing our scoring opportunities today and had some strong defensive stances. Overall it was a solid performance by the team."

The Catamounts stormed out to a 6-1 lead. Niagara scored the first goal of the game, but UVM answered with six straight and would go on to take a 9-3 lead at the break. Fuller netted her hat-trick in the first half and added an assist in the game, while Scordato and Buxton scored twice in the first stanza.

Vermont opened the second half with back-to-back goals from Haigh and four straight to push the lead to 13-3. The Purple Eagles rolled off three straight goals to cut the margin to 13-6, but Vermont closed out the game scoring four goals in the final nine minutes to post its victory of the season.

Junior Meaghan Hanley (Fort Pierce, Fla.) made three saves in the first half, while freshman Ali Trainor (Severn, Md.) made four saves in the second half for the Catamounts.

Niagara was led by Lindsay Hamann's hat-trick and four assists from Allison Valerio. Kristen Engel was credited with seven saves for the Purple Eagles.

The Catamounts out shot Niagara 31-19 and dominated the draw controls for the second straight game (19-8). Sophomore Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario) picked up 17 of the team's 19 draw controls and added seven ground balls in the game.

Vermont improves to 1-2 on the season, while Niagara falls to 0-1. The Catamounts will be back in action on Wednesday (March 7) when they host Siena at 3:00pm at Moulton Winder Field. Admission is free to all regular season home games for all Vermont lacrosse games this season.

GAME NOTES: Sophomore Tori Wasson (Lake Forest, Ill.) added one goal in the win over Niagara and leads the team with seven goals in the first three games of the year. The starting lineup for Vermont consisted of six freshmen and four sophomores. Freshman Alicia Hawks (South Burlington, Vt.) recorded her first career collegiate goal. The hat tricks by Scordato and Fuller were their first collegiate goals and the four points from Haigh were her first collegiate points.

2007-03-04