Final: Vermont 11, Albany 10 | Box Score
BURLINGTON, Vt. - Sophomore Sarah DeStefano (Eliot, Maine) scored with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Vermont Catamounts to an 11-10 victory over visiting Albany in a key America East Conference women's lacrosse game at Moulton Winder Field on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Vermont's first-ever over the Great Danes, UVM improves to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in league play. Albany falls to 7-5 on the year and 1-2 in conference action. "I admire this team today. We were down by three goals twice, but they show composure and battled back each time. Several players stepped up today and this was our best overall defensive effort of the season," said Vermont head coach Jen Johnson. "We have been working on our defense a lot and today we were able to put those things together. They were also able to shake off the first half when we weren't able to score many goals and kept shooting, knowing that eventually we'd find the net. That mentality paid off and we got the goals when we needed them most." It was a tightly contested game throughout, but Albany held a three-goal lead twice, jumping out a 3-0 lead to start the game and holding a 7-4 advantage with 18:02 remaining in the second half. Albany's Kayla Best and Stacey Brown converted back-to-back free position shots to give UA a 7-4 lead with 18:02 remaining in the game. The Catamounts answered with three straight goals, one each from DeStefano, Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass.) and Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario), to knot the game up 7-7 with 13:28 remaining. Jodi Battaglia shoved Albany back in front by one on her second goal of the afternoon at the 7:56 mark. UVM's Sara Buxton evened the score again 42 seconds later with a free position shot at the 7:14 mark. Freshman Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass.) tallied her third goal of the game with 6:28 showing on the clock to give UVM its first lead of the day, 9-8. At the 4:42 mark Best scored her third goal of the afternoon to tie the game up for the third time, 9-9. Rory Redmond was behind the cage and sent a pass over the top of the goal to find Best for the quick tally. UA regained the lead on a goal by Christine Grueniger with 1:17 left. Grueniger found a lane down the middle of the crease and fired the ball past Vermont goalkeeper Meaghan Hanley (Fort Pierce, Fla.), to put the Great Danes up 10-9. Millar controlled the draw following the Albany goal. She found MacDonald who earned a free position shot with 45 seconds left and was able to convert. The Catamounts were just 1-8 in the first half in 8-meter shots, but went 4-for-4 in the second stanza. Albany gained control of the draw on the ensuing play. Best had a scoring attempt, but Hanley made the save with 33 seconds remaining. Battaglia picked up the rebound from the save, but turned the ball over on a stick check by Millar with 13 seconds left. The ball eventually found DeStefano and she managed to find a hole down the middle of the field and went top shelf with the game-winner. DeStefano finished the day with two goals. MacDonald had a career-high four tallies and Millar finished with three assists and one goal. Millar also had a season-high eight draw controls in the contest, including five in the second half, to become the NCAA Division I all-time leader in draw controls. She breaks the mark of 223 career draw controls set by Gloria Lozano of Georgetown from 2001-04 (74 career games). Millar brings her career total to 228 in 43 career games. Hanley was credited with 11 stops in the Vermont net. "I am proud of Kristen breaking the draw control record and she still has another year to go. She had eight today and several of them came at the right time allowing us to gain possession and set up some goals. She came through in a big game for us," said Johnson. Albany, who was without their leading scorer Tee Ladouceur, was led by Best's three goals and two assists. Goalkeeper Katie Neer made 11 saves for the Great Danes. Vermont returns to action on Wednesday (April 9) when it hosts New Hampshire at 3:00pm at Moulton Winder Field. GAME NOTES: Millar broke the national record in all-time draw controls in 31 less games. The 2008 season marks DeStefano's first year of regular playing time. As a freshman she missed the year with a knee injury and in 2007 she suffered another knee injury, seeing action in just five games. Vermont was 0-8 versus Albany prior to today's game. Millar has recorded a point in 41 straight games dating back to the 2006 season, it's the fifth longest streak in the country. Haigh, MacDonald and Sara Buxton have scored at least one goal in eight straight games. Vermont's three conference wins are the most in the program's history and the six overall victories are the most since 2002.

PUBLISHED

04-05-2008
Lisa Champagne