FINAL SCORE: Vermont 15, LIU 9
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Ava Vasile matched a career-high six goals for the second straight game as Vermont (4-0) cruised to a 15-9 win over LIU (0-4) in its home opener on Friday at Virtue Field.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Just a really good team win, just bouncing back after our game last Saturday, I liked how we started," head coach Sarah Dalton Graddock said. "And I thought we had some really good settled sets in there. I thought our defense played really, really well and executing our gameplan and forcing LIU into the shots that they need to take. Credit to LIU how they really pushed us on the draw. They don't give up and to me, that's just a taste that we're gonna get in conference."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Vermont opened the scoring with 9:23 left in the first quarter after Ciera Licare scored on a free-position goal to give the Catamounts a 1-0 lead.
• A free-position goal by Vasile at the 8:10 mark gave Vermont a 2-0 lead.
• LIU's Julia Trainor scored on her team's first free-position attempt at the 5:52 mark, cutting Vermont's advantage in half, 2-1.
• Vasile fed McKenzie Ballard cutting to the middle, where she ripped a shot past the LIU keeper, giving Vermont the 3-1 lead with 2:39 remaining in the first frame.
• Ava Taylor wasted no time in the second quarter scoring 0:40 into the frame to bring LIU within one, 3-2.
• Claire Adelhelm found Ballard from behind the net, where she buried a goal at 13:09 into the second frame, extending Vermont's edge, 4-2.
• Vermont went up 5-2 after Ballard found Lindsay Lefebvre who scored at the 12:31 mark of the second frame.
• LIU's Erin Harkins scored, unassisted, trimming the Catamount lead, 5-3 with 8:17 remaining in the first half.
• A free-position goal by Vasile gave the Catamounts a 6-3 lead with 4:26 left of the opening half.
• Vasile kept it rolling 0:17 later, scoring her third of the game giving Vermont the 7-3 edge with 4:09 remaining of the half.
• Olivia Fantigrossi scored while falling after receiving a pass from Lindsay Lucia, making the score 7-4 at the 3:12 mark of the second quarter.
• Vasile received a pass from Brittany Barton, where she scored again, this time on the fast break in response to the LIU goal. Vermont took the lead, 8-4, at the 2:12 mark of the quarter.
• With five seconds remaining on the clock, Lefebvre scored her second of the game to give the Catamounts a 9-4 lead heading into halftime. Ballard was awarded an assist on the play.
• Jane Trauger scored for Vermont on the first shot to begin second-half action only 0:42 into the frame to give Vermont a 10-4 lead.
• Trainor picked the top right corner at the 11:19 point in quarter three to cut Vermont's lead, 10-5. Trainor answered again for the Sharks a little over a minute later. Vermont led 10-6 with 10:13 left of quarter three.
• At the 8:37 mark of the quarter, Trauger scored another unassisted goal, pinning her shot in between LIU's goalie's legs, bringing the Catamount lead to 11-6.
• Ballard set up Vasile to score her fifth of the game at 7:03 to extend Vermont's lead to 12-6.
• Ballard put her defender in a spin cycle at 4:26 of the third frame before sniping her shot past the keeper, handing the Catamounts a 13-6 lead.
• Fantigrossi scored for LIU at the 4:00 mark of the quarter for her second of the game, cutting into the lead, 13-7.
• Erin Harkins made it 13-8 for the Sharks after scoring with 0:58 remaining in the third quarter.
• Another free-position goal from Vasile put Vermont up 14-8 with 14:06 left of gametime. Vasile's sixth goal of the game tied a career high.
• Harkins kept the Sharks alive, scoring her third of the game at the 13:05 mark, making the score 14-9 in favor of the Catamounts.
• Lydia Doraz capped off the scoring for Vermont with 0:52 seconds left of gametime to put Vermont ahead 15-9 and ultimately giving them the victory in their 2024 home opener.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vasile and Ballard led Vermont with seven points each in Friday's matchup against LIU. Vasile had a game-high eight shots on goal.
• Vasile scored six goals for the third time in her career and the second-straight game.
• Six different Catamounts found the back of the net for Vermont against LIU.
• Ballard tied a career-high seven points earning a hat trick and four assists. Ballard last scored seven points on Mar. 11, 2020 in a 17-14 win over Kennesaw State.
• Trauger and Lefebvre each recorded multi-point games for the Catamounts. This is Lefebvre's second career multi-point game.
• Eight different Catamounts tallied a point against LIU on Saturday.
• Vermont won the ground ball battle 13-11.
• The Catamounts registered 34 shots to LIU's 31.
• UVM won the turnover battle committing 10 to the Sharks 14.
• With the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Children's Trust Foundation as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $94,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.

UP NEXT
Vermont heads to Hanover, N.H. on Tuesday (Feb. 27) as they gear up to face Dartmouth at Scully-Fahey Field. The opening draw is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET and will broadcast live on ESPN+.