FIELD HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
 
The No. 4-seed Vermont field hockey team begins its quest for an America East Championship on Thursday when it takes on No. 5 Stanford in the quarterfinals in Orono, Maine.
 
Thursday's matchup will be streamed on ESPN+ for domestic viewers and on AmericaEast.TV for the international audience beginning at noon.
 
RELATED LINKS
Stanford Coverage: Live Stats | ESPN+ | AmericaEast.TV
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
Vermont won a thrilling 4-3 overtime decision over visiting California on Sunday. Maddie Moran tied the game on an untimed corner with no time left in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime and Sophia Lefranc won it for the Cats 27 seconds into the extra frame. Vermont battled back from one-goal deficits on three separate occasions to pick up the victory. Alina Gerke and Haley Buffenbarger also scored goals while Sierra Espeland made eight saves in the win.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE CATS
 
America East announced its annual award winners Wednesday afternoon. Sierra Espeland headlined a group of five Catamounts to earn distinction as she was named the America East Goalkeeper of the Year, to the All-Conference First Team and to the All-Academic Team. Alina Gerke and Sophia Drees both joined Espeland on the All-Conference First Team while Sophia Lefranc and Mora Fernandez de Oliveira both landed on the All-Rookie Team.
 
Espeland is the second Catamount to win the Goalkeeper of the Year award while Vermont's three members on the First Team ties the 2007 squad for the most in program history.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
 
Vermont is making its third appearance in the conference tournament under head coach Kate Pfeifer and first since 2018. The Catamounts are 0-6 in tournament play most recently dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to Pacific in the 2018 tournament.
 
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
 
Stanford finished the regular season 8-8 overall and 4-4 in league play after splitting the final weekend of conference games against Maine and New Hampshire. The Cardinal had a trio of players named to all-conference teams led by first-team selection Megan Frost. Cara Sambth landed on the second team and Anna Ghuliani was an all-rookie pick. Haley Mossmer led Stanford in the regular season with seven goals and total points. Daisy Ford and Kendell Dowd have split action in cage over the last month and enter the tournament with a combined 1.42 goals against average.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
 
The Catamounts are 1-5 all-time against Stanford with that lone win coming earlier this fall. Sophia Drees broke a scoreless tie in overtime to send the Cats to their first win over the Cardinal. Vermont and Stanford played in the 2015 America East Tournament and the latter came away with a 5-2 win.