The Vermont men’s lacrosse team lost their third straight game when they hosted the top seeded University of Maryland BC Retrievers at Virtue Field on April 7. The game ended in a rough loss for the Catamounts as Maryland outscored their opponents 11-8.
Without these crucial wins, the Catamounts are unable to advance in America East standings. The Catamounts bring their overall record to a losing 1-9, a step down from the previous season.
As the game began, neither team was able to score until seven minutes in, when Maryland’s Ryan Johnston notched the first goal of the game. Three minutes later, Johnston’s teammate Matt Gregoire racked up another point for Maryland, inching them ever further ahead.
Over the next few minutes of play, Vermont failed to put a number up. Junior Drew Philie got the Catamounts on the board with an unassisted goal on Maryland’s goaltender Adam Cohen.
Each team continued to score on each other throughout the first half of play. With just three seconds remaining, Philie scored yet again, bringing the tally at the end of the first half to 6-5, with the Catamounts trailing by one.
At the halfway point, the game seemed it could sway in either team’s favor. Vermont’s team members seemed to be passing well with good communication, traits that helped them execute solid plays throughout the start of the game.
As the clock started back up for the start of the third quarter, Philie scored for the Catamounts with assistance from Geoff Worley. With this goal, the teams were tied at 6-6. Philie scored four of the six himself.
The Retrievers responded with one minute left in the quarter, marking up another four back-to-back goals as they headed into the first 12 minutes of the final quarter.
Another four minutes went by before either team would score again. At this point Philie again came back for the Catamounts, inching them closer to the Retrievers’ lead of 10-7.
Throughout the duration of the final quarter, Vermont continued to outshoot Maryland 34-26 overall, however the Retrievers won the majority of the face-offs, leading 16 to 7.
As the seconds continued to tick down, Maryland scored what would be their last goal of the game, bringing the score to 11-7 with one minute remaining.
With thirty-five ticks on the clock left, Vermont’s Thomas Galvin scored the game’s final goal off an assist from Geoff Worley, bringing the score to what would be the final, 11-8 in favor of the visitors.
Vermont will return to action Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. when they travel to face third seeded Albany in their third league game of the season.
