FINAL SCORE: #2 Vermont 0, UMass Lowell 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont (8-0-5, 2-0-1 AE) battled to a 0-0 draw with UMass Lowell (6-4-2, 1-1-1 AE) on Saturday night in front of a sold-out Virtue Field during the teams annual Rally Against Cancer Game presented by Mascoma Bank. With the win, Vermont extends its home unbeaten streak to 21 contests.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"It's interesting, we really wanted to score in the first 10 minutes of the game," said Head Coach Rob Dow. "It really would open up our opponents game plan, you know we were getting our opportunities, we were disrupting, their style of play was very man oriented and it ruffled our feathers some but what happens is when we don't score in that persist, the opponent gets confidence in their game plan, and that's kind of what happened. We felt good about our defensive actions and keeping the ball out of our goal but on the execution piece, the attack just wasn't good enough tonight."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Vermont nearly struck first in the 11th minute when David Ismail set up Ryan Zellefrow in the box, taking a shot to the short side of the net, but the ball struck the post, flying out of play as UMass Lowell was awarded a goalie kick.
• Niklas Herceg stood tall, making three crucial saves during the remainder of the first half as action got sent to halftime with both teams knotted at zero.
• The Catamounts next brilliant opportunity came in the 63rd minute, seeing Philipp Kühn break free on a two-on-one rush with David Ismail by his side. Kühn elected to dish a pass to Ismail, who rifled a shot from point blank range on goal, but it was the Riverhawk keeper, Jorge Ortega, who made the phenomenal save, keeping the match scoreless, 0-0.
• Herceg made one more critical save in the 76th minute of play before time ran out, as both teams failed to find the scoresheet, resulting in a 0-0 draw on Saturday night from Virtue Field.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Herceg made five total saves against UMass Lowell, tying a season-high for the third time this season.
• Herceg also notched his sixth shutout on the campaign, tying a career high. He leads the America East in shutouts thus far.
• Ismail, Ludvig as Ugglas, and Rui Aoki were the lone Catamount field players to play all 90 minutes of action.
• Connor Thompson earned his first start of the season on Saturday against UMass Lowell.
• UVM took seven corner kicks to UMass Lowell's two.
• Vermont extends its home unbeaten streak to 21 contests.

 
UP NEXT
The Catamounts get one week to prepare for America East foe, New Hampshire, facing the Wildcats on the road in Durham, NH on Saturday, October 18. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
 

For news and updates about the Vermont men's soccer program, follow @UVMmsoccer on Instagram, X, and Facebook, and visit UVMathletics.com.

East Rise Credit Union is the presenting sponsor of Vermont soccer.