Vermont Women's Soccer Weekly Notebook
 
With non-conference play now in the rearview mirror, the Vermont women's soccer team has its sights set on the start of America East play, which gets underway Sunday afternoon with a contest at Maine.
 
All of Sunday's action against the Black Bears can be seen on AmericaEast.tv beginning at 1 p.m.
 
RELATED LINKS
2016 Vermont Women's Soccer Schedule
Maine Game Coverage | Live Video -- Live Stats
Dartmouth Rewind
 
Dartmouth Recap
Meredith Gurnee scored her second goal of the season in the 55th minute to defeat Vermont 1-0 Tuesday night at Virtue Field in a defensive battle between the intrastate rivals. After a scoreless first half the Catamounts got a quality chance in the 51st minute. Caitie Green and Nikki McFarland worked a give and go that released McFarland in the box. Amidst some traffic McFarland fired a hard low shot that was parried away by the Big Green's Casey Cousineau. Minutes later Gurnee scored the eventual game-winner after receiving a pass at midfield. Gurnee dribbled into space pulling just ahead of a Vermont defender before firing a shot off the post and in past the Catamounts' Coco Speckmaier (7 Saves).
 
Speckmaier Snags Co-Player of the Week Honor
On Monday, the America East Conference announced that junior goalkeeper Coco Speckmaier earned Co-Player of the Week honors after her solid weekend in South Carolina. Speckmaier registered 14 total saves and allowed just one goal in two games. She lowered her goals against average from 1.28 to 1.09. After Tuesday's contest, Speckmaier's GAA now stands at 1.08 – third-best in the league.
 
At the Top
The Catamounts' strong start has propelled them to the top of several statistical categories in the America East. As a team, Vermont ranks second in total points and goals while ranking third in assists and goals against average. Sarah Martin ranks at the top of the leaderboard in shots firing 32 in nine games so far. Julia Smith checks in at No. 2 in points and goals while Nikki McFarland is tied for second with three assists this season.
 
Cats Rolling
With its 5-3-1 record to start the season, Vermont currently has the second-highest winning percentage (.611) in the league while going unbeaten in its last four of its last five games. UVM's five wins are also the most non-conference victories since the 2004 season (also started 5-3-1 that season).
 
Scouting the Black Bears
Maine, which hasn't played since Sept. 11, enters Sunday's conference opener with a 4-3 overall record and is coming off a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Rhode Island two weeks ago. The Black Bears are outscoring opponents 9-5 through seven games and three of their four wins have been shutouts. Kaitlyn Ball, Theresa Gosch and Anetra Byfield have each scored two goals for Maine while Annalena Kriebisch has started all seven games in goal and boasts a 0.71 goals against average – 49th in the country.
 
Series Histories
In what has become a heated league rivalry over the last few seasons, the Catamounts and Black Bears have played to either a tie or one-goal game in each of the last four meetings. Last season, UVM made two first-half Caitie Green goals hold up in a 2-1 win in Burlington. Vermont owns a 14-9-4 record against Maine and looks for its first win in Orono since 2000.
 
TRACK THE #VCATS
Fans can stay up to date on the latest news and notes around the Catamounts through a variety of platforms:
Twitter – Follow @UVMwsoccer and use the hashtag #VCats when tweeting about the Catamounts
Instagram – Follow us at Instagram.com/UVMathletics
Facebook – Like us at Facebook.com/UVMathletics
YouTube – Watch game highlights and other features at YouTube.com/UVMathletics