FINAL SCORE: #13 Vermont 2, George Mason 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – David Ismail scored two goals in Vermont's (1-0) season opener on Thursday night from Virtue Field as the Catamounts extend their regular season unbeaten streak to 20 matches, defeating Atlantic 10 member George Mason (0-1) 2-0 in front of 2,125 fans.
RELATED LINKS
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COACH'S QUOTE
"I was very pleased with our performance tonight," said Head Coach Adrian Dubois. "It was a professional team effort, highlighted by two quality goals and a well-earned clean sheet. It's a great start, but our focus now shifts quickly to another strong opponent on Sunday and another opportunity to test ourselves and improve."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Catamounts jumped out to a hot start, nearly finding the opening tally in the fifth minute when Philipp Schmidtke set up Luis Fischer who carried the ball into the box and used the outside of his right foot to put a shot towards net, but the ball rolled wide, keeping the match scoreless at 0-0.
- In the 20th minute, Vermont struck first seeing Ismail bury his first goal of the season into the bottom right corner. Islam Houssni set up the play, clearing the ball out of the Vermont zone and finding Schmidtke who made a move around a Patriot defender, feeding Ismail to give Vermont a 1-0 opening lead.
- A red card was assessed to George Mason's goalkeeper, Jack Desroches, in the 62nd minute of action when the Catamount pressure forced him to come out of the goalie's box to play the ball, using his right hand to deflect a bounce while outside the box. The play resulted in Desroches receiving a red card, and George Mason was forced to play with 10 players for the remainder of the match.
- Ismail secured his first brace of the season in the 76th minute of action, receiving a pass from Houssni who was at center field finding Ismail just inside the goalkeeper's box. Ismail used his right foot to launch a volley into the top right corner, securing Vermont a 2-0 advantage.
- UVM maintained the two-goal lead for the remainder of the match, securing the first victory of the 2026 campaign.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ismail notched two goals in 85 minutes played during Vermont's season opener, notching his second career brace.
- Houssni registered two assists in his Catamount debut, playing a full 90 minutes of action.
- Schmidtke recorded one assist in his Catamount debut and fired off one shot on goal.
- Herceg recorded a two save shutout against George Mason, securing his 17th career shutout with UVM and first of the season.
- Jeremy Tsang rifled two shots on net in 26 minutes played coming off the bench.
- Jean-David Mougenot Koffi and Patrick Aguilar each played the full 90 minutes of play in their Catamount debut, playing a crucial role in Vermont's shutout.
- Vermont recorded 16 shots placing eight on target while Vermont held Geroge Mason to just two shots on net.
- UVM had six corner kicks to the Patriots' five.
- 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
Following the win over George Mason, the Catamounts will stay home, hosting Colgate on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. Sunday's match will be the team's annual Peter Baldwin Memorial Game presented by Morgan Stanley. All the action 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 is the presenting sponsor of Vermont soccer
