BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Kate Sunstrom scored a pair of power play goals to lead Maine past Vermont, 3-1, in women’s Hockey East action Saturday afternoon at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

It was the first home game for UVM (3-22-2, 1-14-1 Hockey East) since January 13 and it dug itself in an early hole allowing three unanswered goals before getting its offense untracked. The Catamounts had several chances to get on the scoreboard in the first two periods against the Black Bears (8-17-2, 3-12-2) who had shut out Vermont in four previous meetings including 3-0 on January 20 in Orono.

“This was a disappointing loss against a team we had a chance to catch in the standings,” said Vermont coach Tim Bothwell. “We showed a bit of character in the third period winning some battles to get on the scoreboard but we need more focus and determination to get it done tomorrow against the same team.”

Maine opened the scoring at 7:36 of the first period on Sunstrom’s first goal. The Catamounts had several good chances for the equalizer in the first stanza with Maine goalie Genevieve Turgeon turning aside point blank shots by Jackie Thode (Aurora, Colo.) and Jenny Hogan (Santa Rosa, Calif.).

Robyn Law made it 2-0 for Maine midway through the first period after her point blank shot hit UVM goalie Jenilee Roy (Sandown, N.H.) in the shoulder before ricocheting off the cross bar and into the goal. Turgeon again would deny Vermont’s best scoring chance stopping Caroline Donahue (Westwood, Mass.) on a breakaway late in the period.

Sunstrom made it 3-0 just 52 seconds into the third period with her ninth of the season. Vermont would get on the board with 3:36 remaining as forechecking by Chelsea Furlani (Colchester, Vt.) created a turnover behind the Maine net, Furlani fed Thode in the right slot and her low wrist shot beat Turgeon for her third goal of the season. Maine outshot Vermont, 25-20, and cashed in on two of its five power play opportunities. Roy finished with 22 saves for Vermont while Turgeon stopped 19 shots.

Vermont hosts Maine again on Sunday at 2:00pm. Several promotions highlight Sunday’s contest as it is Vermont Youth Hockey Day as well as Hockey East Kid's Club and Rally's Roundup Day. All youth hockey players wearing their team jersey and all Hannaford’s Hockey East Kid’s Club members will be admitted free. Fans also will receive a set of the 2006-07 Vermont women’s hockey trading cards courtesy of S.D. Ireland. Sunday also is the final ‘Skate With The Cats’ following the game along with a postgame autograph session.

For ticket information, please contact the UVM Athletic Ticket Office at 1-866-4CAT-TIX or log on to uvmathletics.com. UVM students (with a valid ID) and all Rally’s Roundup members are admitted free to all home women’s hockey games.