UVMÕs womenÕs varsity soccer team hit the road this weekend to compete in the Colorado College invitational.

The tournament kicked off Friday at 3:30 p.m. against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds are part of the Big Sky Conference and after this weekend have a 2-2 standing.

Within the first five minutes, the Catamounts took the lead with a goal scored by first-year Nikki McFarland. This was McfarlandÕs first career goal.

The offensive opportunity came from sophomore Alexa DeMaioÕs direct kick. The direct kick was the result of a foul on Southern Utah.

As the game progressed, 16 more fouls were recorded, ten of them on SUU and seven from Vermont. Southern Utah senior Kristy Hendrickson was issued a yellow card 27 minutes into the game.

VermontÕs defense held the ThunderbirdsÕ first goal off until the 32nd minute of the half. The defense collectively had two blocked shots and sophomore goaltender Ally Ramos tallied 5 saves.

The Catamounts were outshot by Utah in the first period 12-3.

The first breakdown in VermontÕs end came after an offside call and a foul against SUU. The Thunderbirds were able to recover from the calls and remained an offensive threat.

UtahÕs first-year combo of Aurora Moberly and Breanne Brown slipped the first goal passed Ramos at the 32:30 mark of the first half.

The ThunderbirdsÕ second goal came ten minutes later after a crossbar shot and the third goal came two minutes after that. UtahÕs third goal was scored seconds after a corner kick opportunity. Brown scored all three goals for the Thunderbirds.

Senior Morgan Nichols started the second half in net for the Catamounts. The scoreless second half allowed Utah to capitalize on their 3 to 1 goal advantage over Vermont and the Thunderbirds took home the W that day.

The Catamounts returned to Stewart Field on Sunday to play Colorado College at 12:30 p.m.

Colorado College is in the West Division of Conference USA. Before the Colorado College Invitational they had a record of 0-2. The Tigers won their first tournament game on Friday vs. Appalachian State.

Due to weather conditions the start time was delayed one hour and 55 minutes. When the game finally began Nichols started in net for the Catamounts.

In the first half of the game Vermont threw everything but the kitchen sink at ColoradoÕs offense. The catamounts had little offensive opportunity but they managed to hold the score at 0-0 for the whole 45 minutes.

ColoradoÕs offensive ambush started within the first 7 minutes of the game with a corner kick. This was the start of 7 other corner kick streak for Tigers.

Four of ColoradoÕs seven corner kicks resulted in shooting opportunities. The TigerÕs forward Katie Uyenishi was able to get a header shot on two of the balls but both were wide of the net.

VermontÕs defense caught ColoradoÕs forwards offside three times in the course of the game. The defensive line also blocked seven of ColoradoÕs 19 shots and managed to send the ball forward to record three shots of their own.

After playing a little less than 53 minutes of regulation time lightning returned and the game was delayed for a second time. After a few minutes of waiting the return of play was cancelled. The game was ruled a Òno-contest.Ó

The Catamounts return to the field on Sunday Sept. 8 at 1:00 pm in Providence, Rhode Island for a conference game vs. the Providence College Friars.