It was a hard-fought 1-0 loss for the Catamount field hockey team Saturday as they fell to UPenn in the first game of the fourth annual Sheraton Catamount Classic.

The game started off slowly with a scoreless first half for both teams, but with 21 minutes left in the second half, UPenn senior Sarah Warner sent a waist-high pass to sophomore Abigail Egan who knocked it in for the game’s only goal.

“I think we came out in the first half really strong, definitely connected a lot of passes up the sides, which was really one of our focus points in practice all this week,” UVM sophomore Sarah Becque said. “Last weekend we had trouble finding the  connections up the sidelines, and when we do find it, we have some moments of brilliance.”

“What we learned today is that we need to play 70 minutes of hockey — just go for the whole time. There were times when we did let up,” Becque added on what the team can build on from this game.

In the Sheraton Catamount Field Hockey Classic, which UVM has won twice in the past three years, the Catamounts will also be competing against UC Davis.
UNH is also participating in the tournament.

Though this was a tough loss for the young Catamounts, as they were unable to score, they feel they are making progress and remain optimistic about the strength of their team moving forward to the rest of the tournament and the season.

“It’s a process — game by game we’re moving forward,” head coach Nicki Houghton said. “Right now we’re a very young team and it’s not about the results … we feel like every game — and every practice — we’re growing.”