Torres Records Season-High 11 Saves in Loss at Vermont

Saturday, March 13

Burlington, Vt.

3 PM

University of New Hampshire

1-3, 0-2AE

Vermont

2-1, 2-0AE

New Hampshire

Vermont

Photo by: Kathleen Helman

3/13/2021 5:40:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Junior Issy Torres (Elmhurst, Ill.) recorded a season-high 11 saves but the University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team was defeated 13-4 by the University of Vermont at Virtue Field on Saturday afternoon.

Torres was credited with five saves in the first half, six more in the second, and finished with a team-high four ground balls. Senior Julia Neyland (Boxborough, Mass.) was the only Wildcat who recorded multiple points with two goals.

UVM goalie Sophie McLaughlin finished with 16 saves while the Catamount attack was led by Ava Vasile (two goals, three assists) and McKenzie Ballard (three goals, one assist).

UNH is 1-3 overall and 0-2 in America East. UVM moves to 2-1, 2-0.

New Hampshire is scheduled to return to action March 17 (4 p.m.) at Boston College.

FIRST HALF

New Hampshire recorded a 17-14 shot advantage (14-12 on goal) in the opening 30 minutes. The Wildcats also had the edge in both draw controls (7-4) and turnovers (5-6); ground balls were even at 8.
But Vermont outscored the Wildcats 7-3 in the first half.
UVM sandwiched goals around a strike by grad student Rylee Leonard (Coventry, R.I.) at 25:57 to take a 2-1 lead at 20:59.
The Catamounts extended the advantage to 3-1 at 14:03 before Neyland scored an unassisted goal at 12:43 to once again lift UNH within one goal, 3-2, at 12:43. Neyland's initial shot was stopped by McLaughlin, but Neyland corralled the ground ball off the rebound and scored.
UVM won the ensuing draw control and Dani Paterno scored on a free-position shot to reestablish a two-goal margin, 4-2, at 12:12.
Maris Large struck at 9:13 to give the home team a 5-2 advantage at 9:13.
New Hampshire won the draw, but McLaughlin denied Leonard at 8:42 and McKenzie Ballard scored at the other end to push the lead to 6-2 at 8:04.
Junior Delaney Pratt (Lafayette, Colo.) finished a feed from sophomore Liv Dunn (Newbury, Mass.) to score a player-up goal at 5:58 that lifted the Wildcats within 6-3.
Following a Vermont timeout at 3:45, Torres made a save against Ava Vasile, but Paterno collected the ground ball to give the home team an extended possession and Ballard's third goal of the game made it 7-3 at 2:19.
UNH got the ball back with just over one minute remaining on a caused turnover and ground ball by senior captain Tatum Benesh (Horseheads, N.Y.).
McLaughlin made her 11^th save of the half to turn away sophomore Ava Schroeder (Niskayuna, N.Y.) with 38 seconds left and send the home 'Cats into the locker room with a 7-3 lead.

SECOND HALF

Vermont outscored the guests 6-1 in the second half with a 15-13 shot advantage (12-6 on goal) as well as the edge in both ground balls (15-11) and draw controls (5-3).
On UNH's opening possession of the second half, McLaughlin made two more saves against Neyland and Leonard.
Vermont scored back-to-back free-position goals at 24:43 and 22:17 to build a 9-3 lead.
Neyland's second goal of the game lifted the Wildcats within 9-4 at 17:18.
Schroeder controlled the draw, which led to a shot high by Neyland and another on target from Leonard that was stopped by McLaughlin.
With a teammate serving a yellow card, Torres denied Vasile on a free position at 15:07 to keep the visiting 'Cats within five goals.
UVM got the ball back and capitalized on the player-up with Large's goal at 14:18 to reestablish a six-goal margin, 10-4.
The Catamounts scored back-to-back goals 44 seconds apart to extend the advantage to 12-4 at 9:33.
Vermont closed the scoring with 59 seconds remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK

UNH finished with the slimmest of margins in shots (30-29), but Vermont had a 24-20 edge in shots on goal.
The Catamounts also had the edge in ground balls, 23-19.
The Wildcats finished with one less turnover (16-17) and one more draw control (10-9).
Both teams were near perfect on clear attempts. New Hampshire finished 21 of 23 and UVM went 27-for-29.

UNH NOTEBOOK

Leonard extended her point-scoring streak to 20 games with her first-half goal. She has tallied 64 points (36 goals, 28 assists) in that span.
With two goals, Neyland leads the team in both goals (nine) and points (12).
Junior Meghan Doyle (Pittsford, N.Y.) finished with a team-high four caused turnovers and three ground balls. The four CTOs is a career high, while the three GBs is a season high.

Benesh tallied three ground balls and three caused turnovers. The three CTOs matches a personal best and the three GBs equals her season high.
Torres' four ground balls matched her career high.
Pratt, Schroeder and Olivia O'Connor (Hopkinton, Mass.) each had three draw controls.
Senior Sabrina Grovom (San Marcos, Calif.), who had scored two goals each of the first three games of the season, recorded one shot but not a point.
UNH is 1-0 at home and 0-3 on the road.

SERIES NOTEBOOK

UNH has a 33-9 lifetime record against Vermont, which ended a four-game losing streak to the Wildcats with Saturday's win.
Prior to 2020, when the teams did not play because of the COVID-abbreviated season, UNH and Vermont played 37 consecutive years spanning the 1983-2019 seasons.

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