LOUDONVILLE, NY – This was just what the Siena Women's Lacrosse needed—a rounded team effort with a nose for the ball that resulted in a decisive draw control advantage and an 11-7 victory against Vermont on Wednesday afternoon at Hickey Field.

While the rain steered clear for most of the day, the temperatures rose into the 50's with more spring-like conditions.

On the field, the Saints matched that "spring" in their step by winning 15 of 21 draw controls, mostly behind the tracking of Sydney Hannes and Cassidy Bonura. The two sophomores each totaled six draw controls each, frequently hustling hard to ensure that they would be the first one to the ball. 

The plus nine advantage in the category was—by far—the widest margin the Saints have enjoyed all season with the previous best efforts being plus four on two occasions.

In the season opener versus Binghamton, Siena won 11 of 18 and the last game versus UMass Lowell when the Saints secured 14 of 24. 

With the possessions advantage, Siena (1-4) made the most of their opportunities by converting on 11 of 19 shots on goal (.579) that it had during the game. Another sophomore Olivia Nicholson picked up her first hat trick of the season, matching her career-high for most goals in a game. The Wantagh, NY native got the Saints on the board first with a goal just 2:23 into the game and later in the quarter added another on a feed from senior Kelly Logue.

The Saints led wire-to-wire, pushing out to a 5-0 lead—securing scores on an own goal that trickled away from Eva Pflomm and into the Vermont net, and a pair of second quarter goals from Kylie Kuhn at 13:40 and Koehler Nieman at the 10:26 mark.

The Bearcats (2-4) traded off the game's next six goals to make it a 7-3 Siena lead with 12:21 left in the third quarter.

But the Saints padded that lead on goals by Elizabeth Wamp free position shot, a well-played pass off the stick of Grace Dobryznski to Logue in front, and Nicholson's completed hat trick to push it to 10-3 with 8:42 remaining in the third quarter.

Lydia Doraz, who entered at the Catamounts' top scorer, struck back with one of her own goals. 

Lauren O'Hagan scored unassisted for the Saints to push the lead back to seven before Vermont chipped away at the lead but could get no closer than within four for the remainder of the game.

Shaylin Romero put together her best all-around performance, tying her season-high of 10 saves with a season-low seven goals allowed in full time in net as well as a much more robust .588 save percentage. 

Siena will be back in action this Saturday when it takes on #24/#25 Drexel (4-2) in Philadelphia, PA at noon.

The game can be watched on FloSports.