FINAL SCORE: Vermont 14, Holy Cross 8
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Freshman Ben French buried five goals and Dawes Milchling added a hat trick as the Vermont men's lacrosse team cruised to a 14-8 win over Holy Cross on Saturday in the team's home opener at Virtue Field.
 
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Following the win, UVM is 3-0 for the first time since the 2001 season, while Holy Cross falls to 0-2 early on.
 
Freshman Nick Washuta earned the win in goal after making 10 saves on the day for the Catamounts.
 
Vermont got off to a hot start offensively and constructed a seven-goal run to begin the game. UVM needed less than five minutes to build a 4-0 lead early in the first quarter on tallies by French (2), Cam Milligan and Rob Hudson. Milchling then closed the scoring for the first 15 minutes with an additional goal before French and Matt Gudas padded the lead at seven early in the second stanza.
 
The sides then traded goals in a sequence that included a man-up tally for Milchling before Alex Stanko extended the Vermont lead to eight at 9-1. Jon Vogel buried a shot for Holy Cross, but Jack Knight and French countered for the Green and Gold and sent the teams into halftime with an 11-2 advantage.
 
While the Crusaders scored three unanswered following the break courtesy of Kevin Lux, Jack Ortlieb and Marc Buermann, UVM once again responded, this time with goals from French and Hudson. Holy Cross proceeded to record three of the final four tallies on the day but the early offensive outpouring by UVM put the game out of reach.
 
Charlie Erdmann paced the Catamounts at the faceoff X, winning 11-of-24.
 
UVM is back on the road next Saturday (Feb. 25) and takes on Providence at 1 p.m.
 
The 2017 men's lacrosse season is presented by The Vermont National Guard.