Despite a tight game for most of the first half, Albany pulled away late in the first period and handed Vermont an 18-7 setback on Wednesday afternoon. The defeats drops the Catamounts to 4-8 on the season and 0-3 to begin conference play. The Great Danes improve to 4-7 overall and stay unbeaten in the league standings at 3-0. RELATED LINKS CatamounTV Highlights Box Score Elise Koehl recorded her third hat trick in the last four games and fifth overall this season. The junior picked up two ground balls and caused a turnover. Elena McWright added two goals on four shot attempts. Sabrina Tattersfield, MacKenzie Bolt, and Bailey Saneman rounded out the scoring attack for the Cats with one goal apiece. Maddy Kuras set a new conference season-high with 13 saves. The Great Danes were fueled by Kenda Harbinger's nine points. Harbinger tallied seven goals dished out two assists, and won eight draw controls. Emma Powlin trailed with a double hat trick and one assist for seven points on the afternoon. Kyla Zapolski notched a hat trick and won a pair of draw controls. Erin Leghart earned the victory in goal and registered six saves. The first half was closely contested for the most of the period. McWright helped the Cats jump out to an early 1-0 less than two minutes into the game after driving through the right side of Albany's defense. After Zapolski tied the game four minutes later, UVM answered on its next possession after Koehl and Alex Bernier teamed up. Bernier tossed a pass to Koehl in front of the goal where the junior buried her first goal of the day. Albany responded with three unanswered goals from Zapolski and Powli and overtook Vermont 4-2, but Tattersfield trimmed the deficit to 4-3 with an unassisted goal at the 11:25 mark. The Great Danes rattled off six goals in a five-minute span and padded their lead to 10-3 with three minutes to play in the period. Koehl added her second goal in the final minute and Powlin scored with 29 ticks left on the clock as Albany held an 11-4 avantage at the break. The conference rivals traded scores to begin the second half but the Great Danes stretched their lead with four straight goals near the midway point of the frame. UVM logged two out of the final three goals of the afternoon, one by McWright at the 15:18 mark, and Koehl completed the hat trick with five and half minutes left in the contest. Vermont will visit twin state rival New Hampshire on Saturday (April 7) in the first leg of a three-game road trip. The opening draw is set for 7 p.m. Free video will be available at AmericaEast.TV.