FINAL SCORE: Villanova 11, Vermont 9
VILLANOVA, Pa. – A late fourth-quarter surge led Villanova (3-5) to an 11-9 victory over Vermont (5-3) on a windy Sunday afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
 
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Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"This loss stings," head coach Sarah Dalton Graddock said. "We let it get away from us. We will learn from this to prepare us for conference play."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Wildcats struck first with Mary Moore scoring 1:51 into the game. Sydney Pappas added a goal minutes later to give Villanova a 2-0 lead with 6:47 left in the first quarter.
• Ciera Licare put the Catamounts on the board with a free-position goal, coming 1:30 after the goal by Pappas.
• Ava Vasile notched her first goal of the game less than a minute later, tying the game at 2-2 with 4:36 remaining in the opening quarter. The Catamounts and Wildcats would play the first 15 minutes tied up at two.
• Vasile gave Vermont its first lead of the day when she buried a free-position goal just 0:28 into the second quarter.
• Moore answered seconds before the midway point of the second quarter to tie the game at 3-3. Bella Piselli added 0:40 later to put Villanova up 4-3 with 7:03 left in the frame.
• Jane Trauger sparked a 3-0 run for the Catamounts, scoring less than a minute later. McKenzie Ballard and Kendall Traveis added to the scoring run as UVM led 6-4 with 2:56 left in the half.
• Pappas and Moore each scored in the final minute of the second quarter to tie the game at 6-6 heading into halftime.
• Ballard scored her second goal of the game on the free position with 6:22 left in what was a tight, defensive battle in the third quarter. The graduate student's goal was the only one of the frame as Vermont entered the fourth quarter with a 7-6 lead.
• The UVM lead stretched to two goals with 9:57 remaining when Ballard found Erin Kloostra in front of the net where she quickly one-timed a goal for the 8-6 advantage.
• Pappas netted her third goal of the game with 0:48 later to cut the UVM lead to one goal.
• Rookie attacker Karina Sethi put Vermont back up by two when she cut towards the middle, received a pass from Vasile and quickly fired shot for the 9-7 lead with 8:02 remaining.
• Pappas countered with her fourth goal of the game 6:06 left to bring the UVM lead back down to one.
• Moore's fourth goal of the afternoon tied the game at 9-9 with 3:44 remaining.
• Cara Moreau scored the winning goal with 1:53 left when she collected a pass and fired a no-look shot for the 10-9 lead. Sami Carey added an insurance marker with 0:23 left for the final tally of the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Anna Rosenberger recorded a career-high 10 saves in goal for the Catamounts.
• Vasile led the UVM offense with five points (2 goals, 3 assists). Her three helpers match a season-high set last time out at Fairfield (Mar. 6). Vasile also had five draw controls and caused one Villanova turnover.
• Ballard recorded four points, tallying two goals and two assists. The UVM attacker tallied three shots.

UP NEXT
Vermont begins America East play on Saturday (Mar. 16) when it visits conference foe New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. The opening draw is set for 2:30 p.m. ET at Wildcat Stadium. The matchup will broadcast live on AmericaEast.TV.