DURHAM, N.H. – Sophomore Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass.) netted a career-high five goals to help propel the University of New Hampshire Wildcats past the University of Vermont Catamounts, 16-8, in America East women's lacrosse action played at Memorial Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats (5-4, 2-0 AE) win their second America East conference game of the season as well as continuing a 13 game winning streak when facing the Catamounts (3-7, 0-1 AE).

Freshman attacker Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass.) tallied three goals along with an assist and notched the game-winning goal with 8:37 to play in the first half to break a 4-4 tie. Hardy notched four of her five goals in the first half to lead the Wildcats to an 8-5 advantage heading into halftime.

The UNH defense stifled the Vermont Catamounts in the second half of play led by the play of goalkeeper Natalie Jones' (Penn Yan, N.Y.) game-high 15 saves. The Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders and scored the second half's first six goals as sophomore Ashley Durepo (Concord, N.H.) and Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y.) combined for the four of the six straight goals recorded by the Wildcats.

The Catamounts rallied to score three straight goals led by Tori Wasson's unassisted goal at 9:43 to start the rally. Vermont cut the deficit to 14-8 with 5:12 remaining on an unassisted goal by Vermont's Kacy Roeder. The Wildcats controlled the flow of the game in the final five minutes of the contest and officially put the game out of reach on a Beth Sabiston (Bay Shore, N.Y.) tally with 4:32 left. Kaplan, who has scored at least a point in all nine games played registered her 15th goal of the season with 2:18 remaining to close out the scoring on the afternoon. Vermont's goalkeeper Meaghan Hanley posted 13 saves in the loss.

The Catamounts held the 17-9 advantage in draw controls, but the stingy UNH defense limited Vermont to just eight goals during the game, including just three goals in the second stanza.

The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday (April 4) at 1:30 p.m. on Memorial Field as they play host to non-conference foe Vanderbilt.

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DURHAM, N.H. – Michaela Hardy scored five goals to lead the New Hampshire Wildcats to a 16-8 victory over visiting Vermont in America East women's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon. It was the conference opener for the Catamounts.

Vermont trailed 4-1 just six minutes into the contest, but UVM scored three straight goals to tie the game up 4-4. After a UNH timeout, the Wildcats finished the half scoring four consecutive goals, including a pair by Hardy, to take an 8-4 lead at the half.

UNH scored the first six goals of the second half to push the score to 14-5. The Wildcats would go on to out score UVM 8-3 in the second stanza.

Tori Wasson (Lake Forest, Ill.), Becky Kenison (Woodstock, Vt.) and Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario) scored two goals each to lead the Catamounts.

Meaghan Hanley (Fort Pierce, Fla.) made 13 saves for Vermont, while Natalie Jones made 15 saves for UNH.

Vermont falls to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in America East while New Hampshire improves to 5-4 on the season and 2-0 in the league.

The Catamounts return to action on Tuesday, April 2 when they host Dartmouth, the 2006 NCAA Runner-up, at 4:00 pm at Moulton Winder Field. Admission is free to all regular season Vermont lacrosse home games this season.

2007-03-31