FINAL SCORE: Vermont 12, NJIT 9
BURLINGTON, Vt. - Charlie Pope's five-goal performance helped Vermont (3-5, 1-0 AE) win 12-9 over NJIT to begin America East competition. The Highlanders suffered their first loss of the season. Vermont earned its first conference win and its first win at home. With the loss, NJIT falls to 7-1 overall and 0-1 during conference play. 
 
RELATED LINKS 
Box Score | CatamounTV Highlights 
 
COACH'S QUOTE 
"Conference play just has a different feel to it, and coming off a game where we lost by a goal, we thought we played hard at the end of that last game and still lost," said head coach Chris Feifs. "I think there was just a bad taste in our mouth and our guys were really motivated to come out hot on virtue and get a conference win against a really good NJIT team. Not getting behind six goals or a huge deficit to start the game is a big confidence builder, especially with a young team. I think we gained a lot of momentum today with a big victory over an undefeated team." 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the Highlanders scored three goals to begin scoring, Vermont found the back of the net for the first time with 1:33 left in the opening quarter. Luke Reiter capitalized on a NJIT turnover, shooting the ball into the net while diving to the ground into a relatively wide-open net, cutting NJIT's lead down to two, 3-1. 
• Henry Dodge fed Brock Haley, who sniped Vermont's second goal past the Highlanders goalkeeper with 14:52 remaining in the second frame to bring the Cats within one, 3-2. 
• Pope scored unassisted a little over one minute later, knotting the score at 3-3 with 13:35 remaining in the half. 
• Griffin Fenech took the lead for Vermont after pinning his shot through NJIT's goalkeeper's legs. With 5:46 remaining in the first half, the score was 4-3 in favor of the Catamounts. 
• A smooth turn-around, right-handed shot from a sharp angle by Pope extended the Catamount lead to 5-3 with 2:32 left in the second quarter. 
• Haley found Max Frattaroli on the right side. He finished the play by rifling an underhand shot past the Highlanders goalie, earning a 6-3 advantage with 1:05 to play before halftime. Vermont entered halftime with a three-goal cushion. 
• Following three goals from NJIT to begin the third frame, Fenech lost his defender behind the net using a spin move. This freed up space to feed Haley, who was in prime position to snipe his shot past the right side of the goalkeeper. Vermont was back ahead, 7-6, with 8:16 remaining of the third quarter. 
• Seconds after subbing into the game, Pope scored his second after receiving a pass from Reiter with 5:28 of time left in the third quarter. Vermont led 8-6. 
• Harrison Josloff scored unassisted after whipping a left-handed side-arm shot in the slot past the Highlanders goalie to earn the Catamounts a 9-6 edge with 2:59 remaining in the quarter. 
• Reiter laced a lengthy pass to Frattaroli, who was battling for positioning in front of the net. After corralling the pass, Frattaroli buried his shot in front, giving the Catamounts a 10-6 lead with 0:25 left in the third frame. 
• Ten seconds later, NJIT's Garrett Muscatella scored, cutting the lead to 10-7 before heading into the final quarter of play. 
• Pope pounced back for Vermont following NJIT's opening goal to begin the fourth quarter after completely physically outworking the NJIT defenders and scoring his hat-trick goal with 9:39 of game time remaining to give the Catamounts an 11-8 advantage. 
• Despite a late fourth-quarter goal by the Highlanders, Pope delivered his fifth goal of the game with 0:07 left to seal their first America East win and first win at Virtue Field. 

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• Pope led all players with five points on five goals against NJIT, along with a game-high five shots on goal. It's the second time Pope has scored five goals this season in the same game. 
• Reiter earned a game-high two assists and a goal against NJIT on Saturday. 
• Frattaroli and Haley each contributed two goals in the win. Haley matched a season-high with his two-goal performance.  
• Collectively, seven different Catamounts tallied a point or more against the Highlanders. 
• Henry Dodge matched a career-high 10 ground balls. 
• Eddie Schwasnick and Jack Combs led the Catamounts in caused turnovers, with two each. 

 
UP NEXT 
The Catamounts return to league play on Saturday, (Mar. 23) next weekend as they travel to face conference foe UAlbany in the New York state capital for the team's first road game of America East competition. Game time is set for 1 p.m., and the action will be broadcast live on ESPN+. 
ill be broadcast live on ESPN+.