Final Score: #5 Boston U 4, Vermont 1 | Box Score | Photo Gallery | CatamounTV Highlights
BURLINGTON, Vt. – The fifth-ranked Boston University Terriers were led by Sarah Lefort, their leading scorer, as she scored twice and they defeated Vermont 4-1 Saturday afternoon in Hockey East action from Gutterson Fieldhouse.
 
The Terriers opened the scoring with 3:14 left in the first period. Lefort intercepted a cross-ice pass, skated into the slot and fired a wrist shot past Vermont goaltender Madison Litchfield for her 12^th goal of the season. Boston U outshot the Catamounts 11-4 in the opening period.
 
Rebecca Leslie made it a two-goal Terrier lead 1:04 into the second period. Leslie cut down the wing and made a move like she was going behind the net before firing a quick backhand shot that fooled Litchfield. Leslie's fifth goal of the season was assisted by Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga and Sarah Steele.
 
A few minutes later the Catamounts got one back, Mackenzie MacNeil gathered a loose puck in the Boston U zone and passed it out to Katherine Pate at the point. Pate fired a snapshot through traffic that Victoria Andreakos was able to deflect past the Terriers goaltender Victoria Hanson for her second goal of the season. MacNeil picked up her first career point with an assist Andreakos' even strength goal.
 
The Terriers built their lead back to two with less than a second left in the second period. Samantha Sunderland won a puck battle in the corner and passed out to the point where Alexis Woloschuk one-timed a shot towards the net. Marie-Philip Poulin deflected the shot in front and Litchfield made a save but the puck went high into the air. As it came back down to the ice Sunderland batted it in for her second goal of the season with .6 left in the period.  
 
Lefort put the game out of reach with a shorthanded goal 2:55 into the third period. Lefort stole the puck from the Vermont defender, skated into the Vermont zone and beat Litchfield with a quick low shot. It was the first shorthanded goal of Lefort's career and the Terriers fourth this season.
 
Hanson made 14 saves for the Terriers as she improved her record on the season to 8-1-1. Litchfield made a season-high 34 saves for the Catamounts.
 
"Boston U is an excellent team and certainly took advantage of our mistakes," said head coach Jim Plumer. "I liked our effort level and in certain situations we played very well.  We continue to hurt ourselves with mistakes at critical times and it's tough to overcome them against a top team.  There have been a lot of important lessons to learn this semester and I am optimistic about our ability to put together a good run in the second half."
 
Vermont closes out the semester and 2014 as they host Dartmouth in non-conference action on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Fans can watch a free HD stream of the game at CatamounTV.com.
 
Tickets to the game can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com, via the phone at 802-656-4410 or in person the day of the game at the gate.
 
NOTES: Brittany Zuback led all Catamounts with four shots on goal … Zuback and Katherine Pate blocked three shots apiece to lead the team … This was the Catamounts first December loss under Coach Plumer.