FINAL SCORE: Vermont 10, UAlbany 9
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior Dawes Milchling scored the game-winning goal with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter to give Vermont its first win over UAlbany since 2011 on Alumni Weekend Saturday at Virtue Field. Saturday's game was also Vermont's annual Rally Against Cancer game, presented by Inspired Closets.
 
Vermont improves to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in America East play. UAlbany drops to 4-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score | CatamounTV Highlights
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"I am really proud of the guys on an important team win today," head coach Chris Feifs said. "I am especially happy for Alex Semler, who has been working extremely hard at his craft every week which paid off today and made this win possible. Freshmen Sal Iaria and Thomas McConvey also rose to the occasion at a high pressure moment in our season. Overall, it's all about the team and we will learn from our mistakes to improve for Binghamton."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The McConvey brothers tallied back-to-back goals 48 seconds apart in the first quarter to make it 2-2 with 4:01 left in the first quarter. A late UAlbany goal gave the Great Danes a 3-2 lead after 15 minutes of play.
• Jakob Patterson scored consecutive goals in the second quarter to push the UAlbany lead to 5-2. David Closterman and Tehoka Nanticoke found the back of the net before halftime to make it 6-3 in favor of UAlbany at the break.
• Iaria and senior Jack Knight each scored in the first 3:03 of the third quarter to cut the UAlbany lead to a single goal. A pair of goals from Mitch Laffin and Peter Schwab pushed the lead to 8-5 with 6:36 to play in the third.
• Thomas McConvey tallied back-to-back goals in a 59 second span late in the quarter to bring the Cats back within a goal heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
• Junior Ben French scored his first goal of the game to even the score at 8-8 with 10:19 remaining. UAlbany's Kyle Casey responded with 5:50 to play to give the Great Danes a 9-8 lead.
• Iaria finished a feed from Knight with 3:37 to play to make it 9-9, and Milchling buried the game-winner with 2:04 to play off a pass from Iaria to give Vermont its first lead of the game.
• Semler won the ensuing faceoff and Vermont used the entire shot clock to give UAlbany a chance to tie the game with just 33 seconds remaining. However, a UAlbany turnover with 23 seconds left returned the ball to the Catamounts, who killed the remaining seconds to secure the win.

GAME NOTES

• Semler won a career-high 17 faceoffs and posted a career-best .739% success rate at the X. He also doubled his previous career-high with nine ground balls. He went a perfect 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter and 10-for-12 in the second half.
• After four straight multi-point games and five games with two goals, McConvey tallied his first career hat trick on Saturday.
• Iaria matched a career-high with two goals and set a new career-high with four points.
• UVM dominated with a 39-22 advantage in ground balls. Vermont was 14-for-15 on clears while UAlbany was 20-for-26.
• After eight consecutive losses, Vermont earns its first win over UAlbany since an 11-6 win at Moulton Winder Field in 2011.
• Vermont overtakes UAlbany and sits in first place in America East with two games remaining.
• UVM has now won eight straight games on Virtue Field dating back to the start of the 2018 season. UVM is 9-3 at home in the Feifs era.
• With the victory, the Cats Win, Community Wins campaign and Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Make-A-Wish Vermont, bringing this year's total to 49 wins and $4,900.  

UP NEXT
Vermont plays its final America East road game of the season next Saturday (Apr. 13) at Binghamton (0-9, 0-3 AE). The game is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. in Vestal, New York.