Down 11-8 with roughly 10 minutes to play and on the road against conference rival Vermont, the UNH women’s lacrosse team was in a familiar situation.
On a season that has not gone the ‘Cats’ way, Saturday afternoon was a different story.
Behind Krissy Schafer’s hat trick, UNH battled back from three goals down against the Catamounts to ultimately win, 12-11, marking the ‘Cats’ first win on the season. The Wildcats entered the game 0-10 on the season, while the Catamounts held a 1-10 record before Saturday.
Tied up at 11-11 with 4:52 remaining in the game, it came down to junior midfielder Carly Wooters to lift UNH over Vermont and give the Wildcats a win they have been desperately waiting for.
Gregory Greene
The winning goal came off a forced turnover, which led to a ground ball with 45 seconds left in regulation.
From there, UNH controlled possession and secured its first win on the season.
Wooters would net two goals in Saturday’s win over Vermont, as well as an assist. The goals marked her 15th and 16th on the season.
UNH made an impressive comeback to win on Saturday afternoon, and it started with 7:22 left in the game.
Devon Croke netted an unassisted goal to put UNH within two, followed by Hope Kissick scoring her own unassisted goal to cut the deficit to 11-10.
With 6:13 left, Rylee Leonard tied the game at 11 with an assist from Michele Smith.
Wooters would do the rest for the ‘Cats, and led UNH to the win they have been searching for all season long.
Vermont had started the game with leads of their own. Beginning the game up 2-0, they soon found themselves up 5-3.
However, UNH would storm back.
With goals from Krissy Schafer, Wooters, Marissa Gurello and Rebecca Sennott, UNH would take the lead in the first half at 7-5.
Vermont would battle back, and take the lead in the process before the half came to a close.
With three goals before the half, Vermont would go up 8-7 at halftime on top of the Wildcats.
After an early goal from Schafer to tie it up at 8, Vermont would score another trio of goals to reach their final goal total of 11 before UNH made their four-goal push to win the America East contest.
With their first win under their belts, the Wildcats will next take on the UMass Lowell River Hawks in Lowell, Massachusetts on Wednesday, April 5 at 5 p.m.
