BURLINGTON, Vt. – Rutgers women's lacrosse (7-9, 1-5) lost its regular-season finale at Vermont (8-7, 1-4), 11-10, on Sunday afternoon in Burlington. Graduate student Cassidy Spilis netted a team-high four goals, including the game-tying score with just under five minutes remaining, but UVM's Kendall Traveis tallied the game-winner in the closing moments to secure the out-of-conference win.
 
Spilis finished with five points on four goals and an assist to go along with five caused turnovers, four draw controls and three ground balls. Sophomore Ava Chiarella produced the first hat trick of her career, classmate Lily Dixon dished out three assists, while rookie Payton Tini scored two goals in the loss. Senior goalkeeper Sophia Cardello stopped 10 shots in the loss.
 
Vermont opened the game on a 5-1 scoring run before back-to-back goals from Chiarella and Tini made it 5-3 Catamounts at the end of the first quarter. Rutgers added three more goals to begin the third, as Chiarella completed her hat trick while Spilis' first goal of the afternoon gave the Scarlet Knights their first lead of the day with 6:57 to go in the second. Both teams would trade scoring punches to result in a 7-7 tie at the midpoint.
 
The Catamounts scored three times out of the locker room before Spilis found the back of cage off a pass from Dixon with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. Trailing 10-8 to begin the fourth, Spilis added two more goals, with her fourth at the 4:45 mark making it a 10-10 game. However, with 1:24 left on the clock, Claire Adelhelm found Traveis, who finished for the game-winning tally.
 
Up Next

• Rutgers earned the No. 6 seed for next weekend's Big Ten Tournament and faces No. 3 seed Maryland on Saturday, April 27 in College Park. First draw is set for 4 p.m. ET.