CATONSVILLE, Md. – Thomas McConvey scored four goals and Tommy Burke won 23 of the 29 faceoffs as Vermont defeated UAlbany 15-10 Saturday morning in the America East Championship hosted at UMBC Stadium. In a game with seven ties in the first 29 minutes UVM used a six-goal run to clinch their first-ever America East title and NCAA Tournament berth.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Just couldn't speak more highly of the players and the staff how hard they've been working to get these guys ready to go each week," Chris Feifs said. "I think today it really showed and I'm just really proud."
 
"We've really had to mature since the 2019 championship game," continued Feifs. "We've had to learn a lot about ourselves and how to handle those pressure situations in championship games. Finally, we were able to execute in all the phases that we needed to, to win against a really good team. We're still very hungry, we still have a lot of work to do in our program and we're not satisfied with just a conference championship."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a pair of early saves from UA's Will Ramos the Great Danes scored the first goal of the game on their first shot of the contest. At the 10:24 mark of the first quarter Camden Hay scored his fourth of the season to open the scoring.
• David Closterman scored for the Catamounts on the man up with 8:35 left in the first quarter to tie things up. Stone Jacobs fired a no-look pass to Closterman who cut to the net and ripped one past Ramos for his team-leading 18th goal of the year.
• Just 1:09 later UVM took its first lead of the morning. Closterman fired a shot off the post and JJ Levandowski gathered the rebound and fed a pass to McConvey in front of the net for a quick strike to make it 2-1.
• The Great Danes scored two goals in 48 seconds, late in the first quarter to take a 3-2 lead. Corey Yunker and Jakob Patterson had the goals for UAlbany.
• Liam Limoges ensured things would be tied up after 15 with an around the world finish with 9.6 seconds left in the first quarter. Closterman fed Limoges in front and he quickly got a shot off to beat Ramos before the UAlbany defense converged on him.
• In the second quarter the teams traded goals back and forth. UAlbany's Corey Yunker scored his third goal of the quarter with 53 seconds left in the half to give the Great Danes a 7-6 edge, it would be their final lead of the game.
• With 13.7 seconds left in the half McConvey split the UAlbany defense and fired a shot past Ramos to equalize. On the ensuing faceoff Burke won the draw and went straight to the net. Just 5.3 seconds after McConvey's tally Burke fired a bounce shot in for his second goal of the season.
• The Catamounts stayed hot at the start of the third quarter. Levandowski ripped a shot top corner 1:52 into the frame to give UVM the first two-goal lead of the game. 63 seconds later Limoges cut to the front of the net and made it 10-7.
• Limoges and Brock Haley scored another two goals for Vermont in 63 seconds to give the Catamounts a commanding 12-7 lead with 8:54 left in the third quarter.
• The Great Danes would score the next two goals but the Catamounts came through in the final seconds of the third frame to maintain their momentum. McConvey made it a hat trick on the day with 8.8 seconds left to give UVM a 13-9 lead headed to the fourth.
• In the fourth quarter the Catamounts offensive pressure and possession were too much for the Great Danes to overcome. UAlbany didn't have a shot on goal until there was just 3:26 left in the game.
• McConvey added his fourth of the game with 5:07 left in the game and McCormack slotted one home into an empty net with 74 seconds left to seal UVM's historic win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Following the game Tommy Burke, David Closterman, Ryan Cornell and Thomas McConvey were named to the Men's Lacrosse All-Championship team.
• Tommy Burke was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 America East Lacrosse Championships.
• Burke won the first four faceoffs of the contest and 16 of the 17 draws in the first half.
• In the first three quarters UVM scored four combined goals in the final 15-seconds of each quarter.
• During the Catamounts, decisive six-goal run they scored six goals on just eight shots.
• This was Vermont's fifth straight win over UAlbany, prior to the current run UVM was 4-21 all-time against the Great Danes. Today was also the third time this season UVM defeated UA.
• UVM's Ryan Cornell made eight saves in net for the Catamounts. UVM defeated UAlbany and Stony Brook a combined five times this season, in those contests Cornell made 59 saves.

WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts will await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to see where they are headed and who they will face. The selection show is scheduled for 9 p.m. on ESPNU Sunday, May 9.