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Sat., Feb. 14 at Colgate, 1 p.m. | Live Video (free) | Live Stats

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VERMONT WOMEN'S LACROSSE NOTEBOOK
The Vermont women's lacrosse team heads to Colgate this weekend for the 2015 season opener on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 1 p.m. Live video and stats of the contest are available for free and links can be accessed by clicking here.
 
ABOUT VERMONT
The Catamounts are coming off their best season in program history after posting 12 wins during the 2014 campaign. The squad opened the season with five straight wins and claimed victory in seven of their first eight contests overall.  A triumph over Stony Brook in the season finale propelled Vermont to the #3 seed in the America East Tournament, where they eventually fell to Albany in the conference semifinals. The appearance in the semifinals was the second straight for the Catamounts.
 
Vermont lost the program's all-time leading scorer Sydney Mas to graduation, but returns Jessica Roach and Vanessa VanderZalm, who combined for 132 points on 92 goals and 40 assists while each earning spots on both the IWLCA Regional All-American Team and America East All-Conference First Team. Redshirt senior Marcie Marino also returns for her fifth season with the program after finishing fourth on the team in scoring (34 pts.) last year. Senior Taylor Pedersen is back for her final season and will look to anchor the defense once again. Pedersen registered 15 caused turnovers and 26 ground balls during her junior campaign. Goalies Meg Hopkins and Mackenzie Maher are both back for the Catamounts after splitting time in net in 2014. The two combined for a 9.45 goals against average and .436 save percentage in 18 contests.
 
FRESH FACES
Head coach Jen Johnson added six new players to help bolster this year's squad. Freshmen Kim Arkell (Brentwood, New Hampshire), Courtney Cole (York, Maine), Elena McWright (Baldwin, Maryland), Becca Olsen (Concord, Massachusetts) and Bailey Saneman (Jarrettsville, Maryland) join junior Rosie Gluck (West Hartford, Connecticut) as the six newcomers for the 2015 Catamounts. Click here to meet the incoming class.
 
2015 CAPTAINS
Seniors Taylor Pedersen and Jessica Roach and junior Vanessa VanderZalm were named team captains for the 2015 season back in late January.
 
""These three players are tremendous leaders for us both on and off the field. They are true competitors who will help lead this team to new levels as a program," said head coach Jen Johnson.
 
Pedersen, a senior defender from Nyack, New York, enters her second straight season as a co-captain for the Catamounts. She started all 18 games in 2014 and ranked third on the squad in caused turnovers and fourth in ground balls. Pedersen picked up multiple ground balls in seven contests on the season, and caused a season-high three turnovers against conference rival Albany.
 
Roach, a senior attack from Scituate, Massachusetts, posted career highs in all three scoring categories last season with 69 points on 46 goals and 23 assists. She ranked among the top-five in the conference in both goals per game (2.56) and assists per contest (1.28), while tallying multi-point performances in 15 games. Against Binghamton, roach picked up a career-high 11 points and tied UVM's single game assist record with six helpers.
 
VanderZalm, a junior middie from Pelham, Ontario, joins Pedersen as a co-captain for the second consecutive year. Last season, she notched career-highs in points (63), goals (46), assists (17), draw controls (77) and caused turnovers (26). VanderZalm ranked among the top-25 in the nation in both ground balls and draw controls per contest, and registered 14 multi-point performances, including a career-high seven tallies at Marist.
 
FIVE WINS AWAY
Head coach Jen Johnson sits just five wins shy of passing John Carter for the most victories as a head coach in program history. Johnson has 72 wins total at Vermont after recording a program single-season high of 12 last season. The former All-American at Penn State has guided the Catamounts to the America East Semifinals four times during her tenure, including each of the last two seasons.
 
SCOUTING COLGATE
The Raiders are coming off a 7-9 overall record and 4-4 mark in The Patriot League last season. They reached the quarterfinals of the conference tournament before falling to Holy Cross by a score of 10-8. Head Coach Heather Young enters her eighth season with the program and sports a 62-61 overall record with the Raiders.
 
Senior Megan Ark and junior Kallan Murray, Colgate's top two scorers from a season ago, both return for the Raiders in 2015. The duo combined for 61 goals and 36 assists, good for 97 points total. Ark led the squad with 48 goals, while Murray tallied a team-high 27 assists. Jennie Berglin also returns for her senior season after starting all 16 games in net for the 2014 squad. Berglin allowed an average of 10.61 goals per contest and registered a .418 save percentage while collecting seven victories.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Vermont and Colgate will meet for the 27^th time in series history when the two teams faceoff on Saturday. The Raiders hold the edge in the all-time series, but the Catamounts have won two of the last three matchups, including a 14-11 victory in the season opener last season at Virtue Field. Roach and VanderZalm combined for nine points in the contest and Hopkins made 12 saves to lead Vermont to victory.

NEXT UP
Vermont heads back to Burlington to take on No. 6 Boston College on Saturday (Feb. 21) at 1 p.m. in UVM's home opener at Virtue Field. The game will be streamed live for free via CatamounTV.com.