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In a rematch of the 2021 America East Title Game, the top-seeded Vermont's men's lacrosse team takes on four-seed UAlbany in the America East Semifinals Thursday night at Virtue Field.
 
Opening faceoff between the Catamounts and Great Danes is set for 7 p.m. on AmericaEast.TV.
 
RELATED LINKS
AmericaEast.TV | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
Vermont clinched the America East Regular Season Title outright with a 19-10 win over Stony Brook on Long Island Saturday. After falling behind 6-2 late in the first quarter, the Catamounts outscored the Seawolves 17-4 the rest of the way to win their seventh straight game. Thomas McConvey – the America East Offensive Player of the Week – scored a career-high seven goals and David Closterman dished out six assists. Liam Limoges scored the 100^th goal of his Catamount career cashing in for five tallies on the afternoon. Tommy Burke went 19-for-28 at the faceoff dot with nine ground balls.
 
ALL-LEAGUE HONORS
Eleven Catamounts earned 14 spots across the America East All-Conference teams, it was announces earlier Wednesday. A program and conference record nine Cats earned First Team All-Conference status headlined by Offensive Player of the Year Thomas McConvey and Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Cornell. David Closterman, Brock Haley, Will Jones, Jackson Canfield, Tommy Burke, Pat Murphy and Nick Alviti were all named to the First Team. Michael McCormack earned a spot on the Second Team while Charlie Pope was UVM's lone representative on the All-Rookie Team.
 
CATS IN THE RANKINGS
UVM finds itself in the thick of the national rankings in a number of categories. The Cats rank first in the country in man-down defense killing penalties at a .787 clip and they rank ninth in caused turnovers per game (9.80). Vermont's scoring defense ranks third nationally giving up 8.87 goals per game. UVM ranked 10^th overall in assists per game (8.53). Individually, Nick Alviti is 21^st in the country in caused turnovers per game. Ryan Cornell ranks second in goals against average and is tenth in save percentage while Tommy Burke sits third in faceoff winning percentage.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Thursday will mark Vermont's ninth appearance in the America East Tournament and fourth straight under head coach Chris Feifs. The Cats have advanced to the title game in each of the last three tournaments (2018, 2019 & 2021). Last season at UMBC, UVM punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament for the first time with a title-game victory over UAlbany.
 
SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES
UAlbany enters this weekend's tournament with a 5-9 overall record after going 3-3 in league play. The Great Danes tested themselves with back-to-back Ivy League opponents to close out the season dropping contests to Yale and Penn. UAlbany is led by a pair of Second Team All-Conference performers is Cory Yunker and Graydon Hogg who combined for 65 points this season. Will Ramos has started each of the last six games for UAlbany and enters the tournament with a 13.79 goals against average and a .414 save percentage. Regan Endres – also a Second-Team selection – has done the heavy-lifting at the dot this season and boasts a .518 faceoff win percentage.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Saturday's meeting will be the 32^nd all-time between the two rivals. UAlbany holds a 21-10 lead in the series but the Catamounts have won the last six meetings including earlier this season down in Albany by the final of 14-6. The Cats are 2-1 against UAlbany in the America East tournament with wins coming in the semifinals back in 2019 and in last year's title game.