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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior back Mary Knapp scored her first career goal, but Vermont fell to #12 Albany by a score of 5-1 in the regular season finale Friday afternoon at Moulton Winder Field.
 
Both teams were held scoreless for the majority of the first half before Albany opened the scoring in the 23^rd minute. Amy Nicklin sent a pass into the circle and Kelly Bonner was able to deflect it past Vermont goalie Lena Benwood to give the Great Danes a 1-0 lead.
 
Later in the period, Albany notched a pair of goals in under a minute to extend its advantage to 3-0. Paula Heuser and Bonner tallied the scores for the Great Danes.
 
Fiori Van Rijswijk added a fourth Albany goal with under five minutes to play in the half to widen the lead.
 
In the second half of play, Vermont got on the board after earning a penalty corner attempt. Molly Higgins inserted the ball from the corner to Aria Robinson, who set it up at the top of the circle. Knapp blasted a shot, which deflected off an Albany defender's stick and past goalie Maxi Primus. The score, which was the first of Knapp's career, cut Vermont's deficit to 4-1 with 26 minutes to play.
 
The Great Danes were able to hold off Vermont for the remainder of the half, and added an insurance goal in the closing minutes to earn the 5-1 victory.
 
Benwood stopped 13 shots in the contest, which was the second highest single-game save total of her career. Benwood also registered her fourth double-digit save effort of the season.
 
Primus made two saves in the contest for Albany to collect her 16^th victory of the year.
 
Vermont ends its season at 3-15 overall and 1-4 in America East play. Albany improves to 16-2 on the year with a 5-0 mark in conference, and will be the No. 1 seed in the America East playoffs.
 
NOTES: Taylor Gaines (12 points this season) is the first rookie to lead UVM in points since Danielle Collins tallied 14 as a freshman in 2004 … Ashley McDonald finishes her career tied for 18^th on UVM's all-time goals list (14) … Seniors Ashley McDonald, Mary Knapp and Kalli Barrett played in their final game with the program on Friday … Head coach Kate Pfeifer closed out the season by guiding the Catamounts to victories in two of their final four contests.