ANDOVER, Mass. – Tommy Burke went 19-for-22 at the faceoff X and David Closterman scored his 100^th career goal as the Vermont men's lacrosse team won its third straight contest, 13-8, over Merrimack Saturday afternoon.
 
Vermont improved to 5-4 overall and 3-0 in America East action while Merrimack falls to 4-5 and 0-3.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score | Box Score (pdf.)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a slow start offensively for UVM that saw Merrimack take a 2-1 lead after the first 15 minutes, the Catamount offense quickly turned the tide in the second. Carson Boyle found twine twice in a span of 10 seconds to give UVM a 3-2 lead at the 13:56 mark.
• Jake Harrington found the scoresheet for the fourth straight game on a nice assist from Closterman – the start of a 4-0 run for UVM to close the half.
• Merrimack went two-men down late in the half and the Vermont run was punctuated by a Charles Huntley dunk on a feed from Tristan Whitaker and then Closterman picked a corner to give UVM a 7-3 lead at the break.
• Merrimack scored the first goal of the third at the 6:21 mark to cut into the lead but Brock Haley found Huntley two minutes later to restore the four goal cushion.
• Matt Shaffer made four of his 8 saves in the 3^rd quarter to allow the Catamount offense to work.
• Goals from Boyle and Nick Alviti preceded Closterman's second of the day – and 100^th of his career – to give UVM an 11-4 lead with 1:25 to play in the 3^rd.
• Merrimack scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to make it 11-7 but clutch goals from Haley and Huntley pushed it back to 13-7 and Shaffer was a rock at the back-end to lock up the victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• David Closterman is the 12^th Catamount to join the 100-goal club. He is one goal behind Scott Chace for 11^th all-time at UVM.
• Eight different players recorded points for the Catamounts led by four apiece for Closterman, Whitaker and Boyle.
• Tommy Burke went 19-for-22 (86.3%) at the faceoff X – his highest win percentage of the season – to go along with 11 ground balls. That marks the third-highest single-game percentage of his career.
• Vermont is now 5-1 this season when scoring at least 10 goals.
• The Catamounts have won their last 15 games against conference opponents. Their average margin of victory in that streak is 6.6 goals.
• With today's 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. 

WHO'S NEXT
The Cats wrap up a two-game road-trip next weekend at Binghamton on Saturday afternoon. Faceoff against the Bearcats is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.