Despite jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, UVM women’s lacrosse couldn’t hold off a second half charge by BU that resulted in a 12-9 defeat.
Just 12 seconds after winning the opening draw control, Catamount captain junior Sara Buxton dashed down the right side of the field to ratchet in the first goal of the game.
The Lady Cats held momentum throughout the first half, their largest lead stretching to three goals after Buxton scored her second goal of the game with 24 minutes to play.
The goal came via a nice drop pass from fellow captain and senior Kristen Millar, who found Buxton cutting across the middle.
Millar, who is one goal shy of setting the Catamount record for goals scored, was forced to become more of a passer in the game due to BU’s stingy defense.
“They definitely knew my strengths, where I like to shoot from and where I like to drive from,” Millar said.
The Cats were able to keep the ball in their zone and win most draw controls in the first half, resulting in a 5-4 lead.
“Ultimately, we won more draw controls in the first half which led to more possession time,” head coach Jen Johnson said.
But in the second half the tides turned for UVM.
The ladies started strong, getting an unassisted goal from freshman Allison Pfohl, but were unable to stop a relentless attack by BU.
The Terriers managed to claw their way back into the game after scoring four unanswered goals in a five minute span.
“I think in the second half we didn’t have the ball as much and gave BU more opportunities to score,” Johnson said.
The Terriers were able to capitalize on Vermont turnovers and stretched their lead to 12-8 after a goal from Xan Weitzel with 3:40 to play.
Senior Sarah DeStefano scored the final goal of the game with two minutes to play, but by that point the game was out of reach.
“It really came down to the fundamentals, we were turning the ball over a lot in the midfield, over throwing passes out of bounds and not hitting players when they were open,” Millar said.
Though the team lost, Johnson was proud of the way the team played and said that she believes the team can be very competitive with anyone.
“I think we proved today that we can play hard against any team, we need to continue to bring a 100 percent effort,” Johnson said.
