BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Vermont men's lacrosse team won its first NCAA Tournament game in program history defeating Manhattan 15-3 in the NCAA Opening Round Wednesday night from Virtue Field. With the win, Vermont's tenth in a row, the Catamounts advance to face the top-seed Maryland Sunday, May 15 at noon in a game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Tommy was fantastic today and really gave us a chance to settle in and when they did have opportunities I thought Ryan Cornell had a really good day too," head coach Chris Feifs said. "Thomas (McConvey) and Mike McCormack both had such good days shooting the ball. You know their goalies really, really good and I think we started to figure out where to shoot on him and once we started to see the balls go in the back of the net it really opened a bit for us especially since they're a zone defense.
 
"Just looking up at the stands and seeing so many local folks cheering for us it gets our guys really excited," continued Feifs. "We're just really thankful to have a community that loves lacrosse and is willing to come out on a beautiful day in the middle of the week and support us."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Manahattan's Kyle Gucwa opened the scoring 1:31 into the contest for the Jaspers but the Catamounts quickly rebounded with a 4-0 run to seize control of the game. Liam Limoges tied the game 57 seconds later and Michael McCormack gave UVM the lead with 8:29 to go. Thomas McConvey and McCormack scored 43 seconds apart to cement a three-goal edge for UVM after the first quarter.
• McCormack completed his first half hat trick 2:08 into the second quarter part of another 4-0 run by the Catamount that stretched the lead to 8-1. David Closterman's first of the game and a man-up tally from McConvey came 1:26 after McCormack's goal. McConvey completed his hat trick with 10:04 left in the half completing an 8-0 UVM run over 17:28 of game action.
• After the Jaspers got back on the board Liam Limoges closed out the scoring in the second half with 6:54 to go, as UVM took a 9-2 edge into halftime.
• Vermont picked up right where it left off in the third quarter. McConvey scored 37 seconds into the half and McCormack added another minutes later to make it 11-2.
• McConvey became the first Catamount in program history to reach 60 goals in a season with his fifth goal of the game with 1:57 left in the third quarter. Limoges added another 39 seconds later and UVM closed the quarter up 13-3.
• McCormack and Charlie Pope closed out the scoring for the Catamounts in the final frame.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Tommy Burke won 19 of the 21 draws he took this evening. He also gathered a season-high 13 ground balls. With the 13 ground balls tonight he has 100 on the season. It is just the fourth individual season in program history with 100 or more ground balls (GB records maintained since 1999). Burke holds the program record with 125 during the 2021 campaign.
• Vermont's defense forced three shot clock violations in the first quarter.
• Wednesday's night crowd of 1,611 is a new Virtue Field record for lacrosse.
• Vermont is 12-0 this season when scoring 12 or more goals.
• Ryan Cornell made 13 saves for the Catamounts Wednesday night. Tied for the second-most he's made in a single game this season. In each of Cornell's postseason games this season he has made 12 or more saves.

WHO'S NEXT
For the second straight season the Catamounts will face Maryland in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. UVM will face the top-seeded Terrapins at noon on Sunday, May 15 from Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Vermont fell 17-11 last season in the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament game.