BURLINGTON, Vt. – The California field hockey team scored three goals in a blistering first quarter but it was not enough as host Vermont came back to stun the Golden Bears 4-3 in overtime at Moulton Winder Field on Sunday.
 
"I feel like we are building a pyramid," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said. "We are still getting some stuff in place in the bottom levels. What we did today was have a perfect start, which was the opposite of our situation on Friday. In any conference game you can't settle into a lead like that, I don't think we did that, credit to Vermont for coming back to earn the win. That's what makes conference games exciting, tie games and overtime. I think we need to get better at managing the stress of the game when things get evened up."
 
For the second consecutive meeting between the two programs, it was Vermont's Sofia LeFranc who scored the game winner in overtime; LeFranc netted the winner on Oct. 30, 2022 and delivered a repeat effort Sunday as she scored on a pass from Fernandez de Oliveira five minutes into the first overtime.
 
Cal (3-5, 0-2 America East) scored early and often, jumping out to a 3-0 advantage in the first period. Bente Baekers got the offense going with a pair of unassisted goals five minutes apart. She notched her first goal by corralling the ball at the top of the circle and going to her left before firing a shot past keeper Isla Gunner's right. Five minutes later, Baekers made an identical move for her second score. The brace by Baekers was her second multi-goal game as a Golden Bear and the 24th of her career. It also gives her 92 goals in her brilliant career.
 
Daniella Rhodes put the Bears up three when she scored a goal on her own rebound just before the end of the first. Sophie Everett earned the assist, her fourth of the year.
 
The Catamounts (4-5, 1-1) made a switch at goalie to start the second quarter, bringing in Lauren Halenkamp (3-4), who held the Bears scoreless through three quarters and overtime to earn the win. She finished the day with a pair of saves, both coming in overtime. Tina Jolly (3-5) took the loss for Cal, finishing with three saves, all coming in the first quarter.
 
With Cal's offense held in check, Vermont seized the momentum in the second, outshooting the Bears 4-2. The Catamounts scored the first of four unanswered goals just before halftime when Meg Weyer found the back of the net.
 
After a quiet third quarter in which neither side tallied a shot, the Catamounts leveled the game at 3-3 with goals by Sophie Dress and Aline Gerken. Gerken's unassisted goal came just before the end of regulation to force overtime. After outshooting the Catamounts 7-4 in the first half, Vermont's defense kept Cal's attack off the shot chart in the second half.
 
"I thought we played really well in overtime," Onstead said. "But that's the thing about college overtime, sometimes it can take just one attack. I thought we played a lot better than a loss might indicate but we still have some work to do. I thought Kiki (de Bruijne) played well in the middle, Sophie is kind of an unsung hero that comes in and does the right things at the right time."
 
Cal returns home Friday when it hosts rival Stanford. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
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