ORONO, Maine – Haley Mossmer scored with 1:46 left in regulation to lift the five-seed Stanford Cardinal past the four-seed Vermont Thursday afternoon in the America East Quarterfinals from the University of Maine. With the loss, the Catamounts 2022 campaign finishes at 13-5. Stanford will face Maine tomorrow at noon in the America East Semifinals.

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COACH'S QUOTE
"I thought we played a heck of a second half, we came out with a lot more energy in the third quarter, fired some good shots and played really smart around the circle perimeter and just earned some opportunities that we needed to be doing earlier in the match," head coach Kate Pfeifer said. "I was proud of the corner execution that we had on the goal I think Meg has been working on it all season and it was really nice to see her be able to execute in the game. I thought our backline really played tough especially Haley and Theresa they really hung with it all day and it was just the one moment that was really the difference in the game. You let up a goal with two minutes to go it's pretty hard to turn it around."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cardinal opened the scoring 10:47 into the first quarter on their second penalty corner opportunity of the game. An initial shot was blocked by a UVM defender but off of the carom Stanford's Tottie Taylor was able to quickly fire a backhand shot from just short of the end line that found the back of the net from a sharp angle.
• In the first half, the Cardinal had five corner opportunities and outshot the Catamounts 6-1. America East Goalkeeper of the Year Sierra Espeland made one save for Vermont in the opening 30 minutes.
• Sophia Lefranc almost equalized for the Catamounts 2:05 into the third quarter. She evaded a defender with a nifty spin move before firing a low-hard shot that Stanford's Kendall Dowd padded aside.
• With 10:52 to go in the final frame Vermont earned its first corner of the contest. Lefrance setup in front of the Cardinal net and she redirected the corner attempt just wide of the top corner.
• The Catamounts converted their third corner opportunity of the game into the equalizer. Meg Weyer played the corner into UVM's Haley Buffenbarger and set the ball for Sophia Drees. Drees unleashed a wicked shot that Weyer got into position to redirect past the keeper to tie things up with 6:59 to play.
• Mossmer scored Stanford's second goal in transition taking a long outlet pass and splitting two UVM defenders before beating Espeland with a labeled shot for her eighth tally of the season. It was also her fourth game-winner of the year.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Catamounts set a new program record with 13 wins this season.
• Vermont is now 0-7 in the America East Tournament. Four of its losses including the last two have been one-goal decisions.
• Sierra Espeland concluded her record-breaking UVM career with a program record 39 wins and 391 career saves.
• Alina Gerke and Sophia Drees both joined Espeland on the All-Conference First Team, tying a program record with three First Team honorees set in 2007.