BURLINGTON, Vt. – For the second-straight year, Vermont is the America East men’s lacrosse champion! Thomas McConvey scored five goals to lead the top-seeded Catamounts to a 13-11 win over No. 3 UMBC on Saturday at its own Virtue Field to capture its second consecutive league title.
Vermont, the first repeat champion since UAlbany in 2018, earned the conference’s automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship. The Catamounts will host MAAC champion Manhattan on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the NCAA Play-In Game. The winner will advance to face No. 1 Maryland Saturday.
McConvey, who totaled 12 goals 13 points in Vermont’s two games, was named the championship’s Most Outstanding Player.
The two squads, who were meeting in the championship game for the second time in four years, played a low scoring first quarter. McConvey potted his second of the period with 3:36 left to give Vermont a 2-1 lead.
After the two team traded scores to start the second quarter, UMBC, which was making its eighth title game appearance, scored four in a row, including a pair by Josh Tang. Tang, whose score with 2:51 left in the second gave UMBC a 6-3 lead, earned All-Championship honors.
But Vermont, winners of nine in a row, scored seven of the game’s next eight goals to build a 10-7 advantage, one it would not relinquish. The Retrievers would twice cut the deficit to one, but UVM scored twice in the final 6:05 to put it away.
Ryan Cornell made 12 saves in the cage and joined McConvey on the All-Championship team along with teammates Nick Alvitti and Dave Closterman. Tang was joined by fellow Retrievers Colin Kasner and Brian Tregoning, who had a team high three goals for UMBC Saturday, as selections. Also named were UAlbany’s Regan Enders and Tanner Hay and Binghamton’s Drew Furlong and Max Verch.
Ross Buchman was recognized as the America East Elite 18 award winner in America East for having the highest GPA among student-athletes competing in the championship. The senior carries a 3.98 GPA as a biochemistry major.
Recap the tournament by visiting Championship Central for box scores, highlights and recaps from each game.
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