photo by Steve McLaughlin
BACK TO THE DANCE
With a victory over Boston University in the league tournament championship game, the women’s basketball team earned an America East title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Catamounts’ first since 2000.
Coach Sharon Dawley’s squad closed the season strong, winning eleven of their last twelve games and avenging losses to both BU and Hartford during their tournament run to the championship. Both teams had swept the regular season series from the Catamounts.
“We know it’s hard to beat a team three times,” said Courtnay Pilypaitis ’10, tournament MVP. “We saw that when we played UNH in our first game. Teams just know you so well after the second game and we just knew that if we played forty minutes that we could have a chance.”
“I can’t say enough about how well our girls stuck together. The leadership and the camaraderie got us through this whole tournament,” said Dawley.
The Catamounts’ efforts earned them the league’s automatic tournament berth and a date with top-ranked UConn on their home court in Storrs, Connecticut. Cheered on by loyal Vermont fans who made the ride south, the Catamounts fell to the highly favored Huskies, 104-65.
Post-game, coach Dawley expressed pride in her team’s fight against a squad that is being compared to the best-ever in women’s collegiate basketball. UConn’s coach Geno Auriemma was impressed, as well: “I thought those kids were unbelievable—how confident they were, how aggressive they were, how they came in here expecting to win and played to win. They were not at all intimidated. I could see why they are where they are.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Though it wasn’t their tournament of first choice, the men’s basketball team earned the program’s fifth postseason appearance in the last seven years by landing a spot in the College Basketball Invitational.
The Cats’ America East tournament came to an end when they were upset by Albany in the quarterfinals. Playing at Albany’s home arena, Vermont trailed by as many as sixteen in the second half before mounting a comeback to force overtime. Coach Mike Lonergan’s team finished the season strong with fourteen wins in the sixteen games prior to the CBI. The Catamounts finished the America East regular season at 13-3, knotted with Binghamton, but since the Bearcats won both of the teams’ head-to-head meetings they earned the conference championship.
Vermont took to the road for the CBI, winning their first round game over Wisconsin-Green Bay before stepping out in the second round with a loss to Oregon State in Corvallis.
For the second straight season Marqus Blakely ’10 was named the Kevin Roberson America East Player of the Year and the America East Defensive Player of the Year. Mike Trimboli ’09 earned a spot on the America East first team, while classmate Colin McIntosh ’09 was a third team selection. Freshman Garvey Young ’12 rounded out the Cats honored as he was named to the all-rookie team.
SKIING
The UVM ski team finished fifth at the 2009 NCAA Ski Championships hosted by Bates College. Vermont was the top Eastern team at the national championships, finishing eighteen points ahead of the Dartmouth squad that won every carnival on the EISA Circuit this season.
Vermont had eight of ten skiers earn All-American honors at the NCAAs. Individual championships were won by freshman David Donaldson ’12 in the men’s giant slalom and senior Juergen Uhl ’09 in the men’s 10K classic.
HOCKEY
Though the Catamount men’s hockey team’s hopes for a Hockey East championship came to an end after losing to UMass-Lowell in the conference tournament quarterfinals, they got an opportunity to play again with an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Just sixteen teams play in the hockey national championship tournament. The Vermont squad earned its way there with a 20-11-5 season and consistent top ten rankings. The Catamounts drew a No. 3 seed in the East Regional, where they took on second-seeded Yale in the opening round. (The tournament was in-progress as VQ went to press.)
Among the individual honors earned by Catamount players over the season, junior forward Viktor Stålberg ’10 was a candidate for the 2009 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top college hockey player in the nation, and was runner-up for the Hockey East player of the year.
BASEBALL, SOFTBALL IN FINAL SEASONS
As part of a University-wide budget management plan, the University of Vermont Athletic Department announced in February that it will discontinue varsity baseball and softball at the conclusion of the current seasons. “This was an exceptionally difficult decision to make, knowing the history and tradition of these programs and the impact that it will have on the staff and student-athletes involved,” Robert Corran, associate vice president and director of athletics, said in making the announcement. “They have always represented UVM and their sports in exemplary fashion and have been positive contributors to the quality of life on our campus. Unfortunately, we are facing significant financial challenges which can only be addressed through a major reorganization of our program.”
