FINAL SCORE: Vermont 20, Siena 6
BURLINGTON, Vt. – A dominant second half led Vermont (3-4) to a 20-6 victory over Siena (4-3) on Sunday afternoon at Virtue Field. The Cats outscored the Saints 12-1 in the final 30 minutes to earn their second consecutive win.

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COACH'S QUOTE
"Awesome team win," head coach Sarah Dalton Graddock said. "I think we've had a really challenging out-of-conference schedule with its ups and downs, but it's really just great for our program to have this type of win and to be on a two-game winning streak going into our first conference game. Just across the board on offense, a lot of different people contributing, our defense with Sophie and the unit in front of us did a really good job holding it down, but I give a ton of credit to our draw unit. And setting the pace for this game and giving us a lot of possessions is really important."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Catamounts and Saints exchanged early goals with Siena taking a 2-1 lead five minutes into the game. Grace Dobrzynski struck first for the Saints 2:47 into the contest, and Maddie Erskine countered for the 1-1 draw. Mary Soures put Siena ahead before the 10-minute mark with her first tally of the game.
• Vermont answered with four-straight goals to take a 5-2 lead after the first quarter. Ava Vasile sparked the run with the first two goals, which included a free-position tally that put the Catamounts up 3-2 with 6:43 left in the opening frame.
• Meghan O'Connor added to the lead with another free-position tally coming 0:43 after Vasile's goal. Erskine netted her second of the quarter with 4:53 left for the three-goal lead.
• Rebecca Gilhooley ended the UVM scoring run early in the second quarter, scoring on a feed from Kelly Logue 0:56 in to the frame.
• The Catamounts answered with three goals to take an 8-3 lead with 4:06 remaining in the half. Erskine started the run with her third tally of the game before the six-minute mark.
• Kristiana Strtak netted her first goal of the season with 4:50 left in the half, converting on a pass from Jane Trauger. McKenzie Ballard added a free-position goal 0:44 later for the five-goal cushion.
• Soures and Jordan Bentley scored in the final minutes of the half for the Saints, who trailed the Cats 8-5 at the break.
• Vermont dominated the third quarter, scoring eight unanswered goals in the frame. Trauger opened the scoring with a goal 2:16 into the frame.
• Ballard netted back-to-back goals, scoring on a free-position shot and adding a woman-up goal to extend the UVM lead to 11-5 with 8:56 left in the frame.
• Vermont took its first double-digit lead of the afternoon when Lexie Ruff netted her second marker of the season to go up 15-5 with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter. The Catamounts would take a 16-5 lead into the fourth quarter.
• Soures ended the UVM run with a goal to open the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 16-6 with 13:31 remaining.
• The Catamounts tacked on four goals to their total, with Erskine striking twice in the final minutes. The sophomore netted the final tally for Vermont to lead 20-6 with 2:30 to play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Erskine recorded a career-high five goals and seven points on the afternoon. The attacker registered six shots, with all of them directed on goal.
• Trauger (3 goals, 2 assists) and Ballard (4 goals, 1 assist) tallied five points each in the victory. Ballard's four goals and five points were her most since the 2021 season.
• Strtak recorded a career-high two goals and three points on the day.
• Carolyn Carrera recorded four caused turnovers on the defensive end. Brittany Barton had a team-high three ground balls.
• Sophie McLaughlin registered eight saves in the victory.
• With the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to King Street Center as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $80,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.  

UP NEXT
Vermont begins America East play on Saturday (Mar. 18) when it welcomes conference newcomer Bryant to Virtue Field. The opening draw is set for 12 p.m. and will broadcast live on AmericaEast.TV. Tickets are available for purchase at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or by visiting the Gutterson Fieldhouse Box Office on gameday.