WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Vermont (0-1, 0-1 AE) will play its first road game of the 2021 campaign with a stop at New Hampshire (4-1, 1-1 AE) on Sunday (March 21). The opening kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Fans can watch the game for free at
AmericaEast.TV.
RELATED LINKS
Video | Live Stats
LEADERSHIP GROUP
Head coach
Kristi Huizenga appointed two seniors and one junior as team captains this year –
Ella Bankert,
Angie Salvi, and
Cricket Basa. Bankert finished second on the team in scoring in 2019 after producing five points on two goals and one assist. Salvi appeared in 15 out of the team's 16 games and was credited with an assist last season. Basa will make her Catamount debut after transferring from Holy Cross prior to the 2019 campaign, but missed the season due to an injury.
NEW YORK CONNECTION
The twin state matchup will feature 12 players from the state of New York, six from each team. UVM's list of New Yorkers are
Nicky Constant (Wading River),
Lydia Kessel (Wading River),
Abbey Knobel (Nanuet),
Alexa Mihale (Oceanside),
Allison Oestreicher (Katonah), and
Alex West (NYC). UNH's group from the Empire State are Emily Bini (Guilderland), Alyssa Di Lorenzo (Floral Park), Anna Hewlett (Webster), Francesca Picicci (North Massapequa), Chloe Schnitt (NYC), and Cat Sheppard (Nesconset).
FIRST OF THREE
Sunday's match is the first of three conference road games for the Cats this season. The Green and Gold will make stops at NJIT and Maine later this year.
SCOUTING NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Wildcats are one of the hottest teams in the league and have jumped out to a 4-1 start. UNH opened the season with four straight wins before the streak was snapped with a 2-0 loss at UMass Lowell last Sunday. Coming into the year, New Hampshire was picked fifth in the conference preseason rankings with 50 points. The Wildcats have two of the league's top scorers – Picicci and Whitney Wiley. The scoring tandem has three goals and seven points apiece, tops in the league. Picicci had netted goals three games in a row before UML kept her off the board. Wiley had a five-point game against Merrimack on February 25 with two goals and one assist. Goalie Cat Sheppard has the second-best goals-against average in the conference at 0.62 with one clean sheet this season.
INSIDE THE SERIES
UVM will try to inch closer in the all-time series as UNH leads 21-16-5
. Flashback to 2018 and the last time the Catamounts played in Durham, the Green and Gold ended a seven-year drought with a 2-0 victory. In 2019, the Wildcats edged the Catamounts 2-1 at Virtue Field.
