MEN'S LACROSSE NOTEBOOK
The Vermont men's lacrosse team heads back out on the road this weekend as it takes on Merrimack in a Saturday afternoon America East matchup at Duane Stadium in Andover, Mass.

All the action gets underway at 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
 
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LAST TIME OUT
The Catamounts won their second straight last weekend with a 14-7 victory over UAlbany at Virtue Field. Vermont jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to its eighth straight win over the Great Danes. Brock Haley paced the offense with six goals and two assists while Derek Marsilio finished with four points on two goals and two assists. Matt Shaffer made 10 saves in cage in his first game action since March 3 while Colin Sharkey finished the day with four ground balls, two caused turnovers and his first goal of the season.

HALEY HONORED
For the third time this season and second straight week Brock Haley was named America East Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday. Haley now has 16 points in his last two games after back-to-back eight-point weekends and picked up his 100^th career point in Saturday's win vs. UAlbany.

HARRING-TON OF CONFIDENCE
Grad student Jake Harrington has made the most of his opportunities of late. He's scored six goals – including a hat trick against NJIT – in his last three games.

FINDING THE GROOVE
The UVM offense has picked up the pace over the last two weekends with a combined 30 goals in the first two conference games. Against UAlbany, the Cats had eight different goal scorers and ten different players register points – tied for the most in a game this season.

CATS VS. AMERICA EAST
Last season on their way to a second consecutive America East crown, UVM was dominant against league opponents. Vermont outscored America East competition 129-59 over the course of the regular season and America East tournament in 2022. The Cats are 15-2 in their last 17 regular season conference games including perfect 6-0 last year.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
Coming into the weekend with a 4-4 overall record, Merrimack has dropped its first two games as an associate member of the America East including 15-5 defeat to UMBC last weekend. The Warriors started the season with three straight wins before dropping four of the last five. Three players have 20 or more points through eight games led by Jack Rooney's 25 on 11 goals and 14 assists. Brian Russell leads the team with 20 goals. Henry Vogt has started all eight games in cage for the Warriors and enters the weekend with a 10.87 goals against average and a .585 save percentage. Allyn French takes the bulk of faceoffs with a 41.3% success rate.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Saturday will be just the second all-time meeting between Vermont and Merrimack with the Cats holding a 1-0 edge in the series. UVM won the only other meeting, 9-8, in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season – Merrimack's first as a Division I member. David Closterman had two goals and an assist in that contest.