FINAL SCORE: #2 Vermont 2, #5 Bryant 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Omar Robbana (29') and David Ismail (39') were Vermont's (14-0-5) two goal scorers on Sunday afternoon from Virtue Field as the Catamounts defeated Bryant (16-2-2) 2-0 during the 2025 America East Championship match. With the win, UVM has now won the conference title for the second year in a row, the third time in the last five years, and third time under Head Coach Rob Dow.  
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"My thoughts are we have the best fans in the country, they showed up today, we had snow again, we had cold weather, they never wavered, and we took a ton of energy from them," said Head Coach Rob Dow. "Congrats to Bryant on an amazing championship regular season, they're going on to do big things in the NCAA Tournament. We're proud to have such a strong conference in the America East."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Just over two minutes into the championship match, Bryant nearly struck first, capitalizing on a UVM foul that led to a free kick. A Bulldog sent the ball into the box where Paco Fernandez was there to corral the ball, and send a try towards goal, but his attempt rang off the post as a Catamount defender cleared the ball out of harm's way. The match remained scoreless, 0-0.
• The Catamounts pounced on the scoreboard first in the 29th minute of play, seeing a set piece result in Vermont's first goal of the match. Marcell Papp took the initial kick, blasting it into the human wall created by Bulldogs. The ball bounced back to Marcos Blasco who was just outside the box, wasting no time stringing a pass to Robbana who was all alone on the close side. Robbana took a second to possess control before placing a shot to the bottom right corner, scoring his second goal of the season, earning UVM a 1-0 lead.  
• David Ismail made it 2-0 in favor of Vermont in the 39th minute of play, being dished a terrific pass from Papp on an offensive rush and pinning the bottom right corner with his right foot, scoring his tenth goal of the season to give the Catamounts a two-goal advantage.
• Tensions started to rise in the second half during the 65th minute with some pushing and shoving, eventually resulting in Andrew Millar and Mamadi Jiana each receiving a yellow card.
• Niklas Herceg made three crucial saves for the remainder of regulation, keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
• As the final buzzer rang, the Catamounts celebrated becoming the 2025 America East Champions for the second year in a row, defeating the two-seed Bryant Bulldogs by a score of 2-0 on Virtue Field.  

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Sunday's America East Championship was played in front of the 12th consecutive sellout for men's soccer at Virtue Field.
• Vermont will be making its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, marking the first time in program history. UVM has advanced to at least the Third Round in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments.
• Four Catamounts were named to the All-Championship Team: Blasco, Ismail, Herceg, and Rui Aoki. The Most Outstanding Player honor was awarded to David Ismail.
• Vermont's Karl Daly was recognized as the winner of the Elite 18 award for having the highest GPA of any player in Sunday's championship. The senior Business Administration major owns a 3.90 GPA.
• The Catamounts were just the second team this year to shutout Bryant and still the only team who has taken down the Bulldogs.
• Ismail netted his tenth goal of the season to go along with two shots on goal. Ismail has scored a goal in four straight matches, including a brace at Binghamton during the regular season finale.
• Robbana recorded his second goal of the season, scoring the match-opening goal for the Catamounts. Robbana also played all 90 minutes of action on Sunday.
• Blasco tallied one assist in the championship, his second assist of the season.
• Papp found the score sheet in the championship for the second year in a row, dishing out an assist on Ismail's insurance goal. It's Papp's fifth assist of the season, tied for a team high.
• Herceg made five total saves against Bryant on Sunday, knotting his season high for the fourth time this year.
• With today's Win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to the Lund Family Center through the Cat's Win, Community Win's initiative. Vermont Mutual has donated over $5 Million Dollars since launching their Charitable Giving Fund in 2014.

 
UP NEXT
Vermont will make its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after securing an automatic bid with the America East Championship win. The Catamounts will find out who their opponent is on Monday (Nov. 17) in the NCAA Selection Show, scheduled to air at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
 
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.