Despite an over an hour delay, the Marist Red Foxes lost convincingly 16-5 to the University of Vermont (UVM) Catamounts as three of their players had at least three goals.
Vermont leads the all-time series 7-6 after Wednesday’s win. However, the Red Foxes have won five of the six last meetings. Before today’s matchup, Marist won the last game between these two teams on February 24, 2019, by a score of 15-14.
Due to a snowy Wednesday afternoon in Poughkeepsie, New York, the game was delayed as they had to shovel the sticky snow. Before the game, Vermont coaches and players were having a snowball fight. It was as if they were at home.
Meanwhile, Marist used the delay to further go over the game plan and get locked in for the game. “We went over our scouting report and kinda reviewed it a little bit more just to keep the girls loose. We weren’t really sure when the actual start time may be,” said head coach Jess Wilkinson.
Anytime there was no action being played, the field was getting shoveled in an attempt to get a lot of snow off. “It was definitely messy for sure. We couldn’t catch the ball as easily in better weather,” said Wilkinson.
The Red Foxes did not start warmups until 2:38 p.m. Due to the weather, and classes going on, there are not many spectators here at Tenney Stadium. The game did not end up starting until a little after 3 p.m.
The game started with Red Foxes freshman midfielder Juliana Santel winning the draw with Marist on the attack first. With 8:16 remaining in the first quarter, Catamounts midfielder Erin Kloostra takes advantage of the free position shot and opens up the scoring, and takes a 1-0 lead. Kloostra has now scored in back-to-back games finishing with a goal and an assist.
With a great feed from junior attack Kerri Gutenberger, senior midfielder Melissa Bucher scored her third goal of the season. At 1:32 into the second quarter, UVM redshirt midfielder Grace Giancola scored her sixth goal of the season assisted by junior midfielder Ava Vasile to take a 2-1 Catamounts lead. Shortly after, Vasile scored her 15th goal of the season and became the first Catamount to reach 20 points this season and extended Vermont’s lead to 3-1.
Bucher scored her second goal of the day and fourth of the season to make it a 3-2 deficit for the Red Foxes. “She’s a midfielder and she stepped up big today in terms of seeing her opportunities. Our game plan is always to get some of our midfielders more looks and she finally took that to heart,” said Wilkinson.
Vermont later took advantage of another free-position attempt as Vasile scored her second goal of the game on a diving shot to make it a 4-2 Catamount lead with 3:51 remaining in the first half.
With 12 seconds left in the first half, Marist graduate student attack Alexandria Di Chiara scores her third goal of the season assisted by Gutenberger. The Catamounts score their third free position of the game, as Giancola scores her second of the game assisted by Vasile. With great passing, and a forced turnover from Red Fox junior attack Kelly Trotta, sophomore midfielder Delaney Hayes scores her sixth of the season to once again make it a one-goal deficit.
The score going into halftime was 4-2 with Marist trailing.
In the third quarter, Marist improved on moving off-the-ball and backdoor cuts which led to more scoring opportunities. Junior attack Olivia Arnsten scored her sixth goal of the season to tie the game at five apiece assisted by sophomore midfielder Hannah Spease with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter. Less than a minute later, Giancola scored her third goal of the game resulting in a hat-trick assisted by UVM sophomore midfielder Meghan O’Connor as the Catamounts took back their one-goal lead.
Junior attack Lexie Ruff scored her first collegiate goal as a member of the Catamounts and they began to pull away thanks to a goal from senior attack Taylor Mullen, her fifth of the season as the Red Foxes trail 8-5.
The Red Foxes later played with a woman down for two minutes as Hayes received a yellow card. Ruff now scored her second of the day as the Catamounts led 9-5 with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter. Freshman midfielder Kendall Traveis scored her first career goal for UVM on a free position as Marist was down 10-5.
With 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Vasile scored her 17th goal of the season and she joined teammate Giancola with a hat-trick as they were ahead 11-5. After a poor performance from senior Marist goalie Gabrielle Orlando, senior backup goalie Chloe Monroe checks in for the Red Foxes.
Orlando and Monroe were outplayed by Catamount’s senior goalie Sophie McLaughlin, as the two Red Foxes combined had seven saves which is what McLaughlin had herself.
What cost the Red Foxes was too many turnovers and fouls that the Catamounts took advantage of. The Red Foxes committed 22 turnovers to the Catamounts 14. Marist also struggled in the second half as they were outscored 12-2.
Catamounts junior midfielder Ava Vasile leads the team in goals (17) and points (24) after a six-point game in today’s contest. Vermont extends their win streak to three after defeating Wagner, Siena, and now Marist. The Red Foxes, on the other hand, are now on a 2-game losing streak heading into their game with the Hofstra Pride Saturday, Mar. 12 at 1 p.m.
Edited by Bridget Reilly
Photo Credit: Marist Athletics