FINAL SCORE: #12 Vermont 3, UMass 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Goals from
Aleksei Carnier,
Arthur Caldas, and
Pieter Bultman along with a five save shutout from
Niklas Herceg helped propel No. 12 Vermont (7-1-2, 1-0-0 AE) over UMass (4-5-1) 3-0 on Tuesday Night from Virtue Field during the team's Green Out game powered by Casella. With the win, the Catamounts conclude their regular season non-conference schedule earning their seventh shutout of the season and improving to 5-0-1 on home turf.
RELATED LINKS
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Today was all about being player led and make sure we have the highest execution," said Head Coach Adrian Dubois. "I'm really proud of the group because we've been trying to find the right combinations, the right formation, the right tactics and then on top of that I think we found it. We're trying to now be the best versions of ourselves."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- It only took Vermont 1:52 to strike first, seeing Jean-David Mougenot Koffi dish a short pass off to Luis Fischer who one touched a cross to the six-yard box, finding the head of Carnier who pinned the bottom left corner, securing his first goal as a Catamount to put UVM ahead 1-0. Fischer collected his league leading seventh assist of the year while JD notched his first point as a Catamount.
- The Catamounts scored again less than five minutes later in the seventh minute of play. Halim Bangura took a corner kick from the far side sending the ball into the six-yard box. The ball bounced out to reigning America East Defensive Player of the Week, Stepan Fiker, who blasted the ball back into the mob of players. After taking a few bounces off numerous people, Caldas was able to track the ball, using his left foot to tap in his first goal as a Catamount, propelling Vermont ahead 2-0.
- In the 59th minute of play, Vermont made it 3-0 when Ezra Widman finessed a pass to Fiker on the far side, crossing the ball into the six-yard box where Bultman was there to jump over everyone, heading in his team leading fourth goal of the game.
- The Catamounts maintained the three-goal advantage for the remainder of regulation, ultimately walking away with the 3-0 shutout victory over UMass from Virtue Field.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Niklas Herceg tallied his seventh clean sheet of the season, leading the country in that department, making five total saves against the Minutemen, putting him at 23 career shutouts. Herceg now takes sole possession of the third most shutouts in program history.
- Bultman notched his fourth goal of the season on Tuesday, leading the team in that department.
- Carnier and Caldas both scored their first goals as Catamounts against UMass while Carnier also added an assist, his first career game with a goal and an assist in the same match.
- JD and Widman each registered their first point in a Vermont uniform on Tuesday, each collecting an assist.
- Fischer tallied his seventh assist on the year, leading America East in that category.
- Fiker earned one assist on Tuesday, his first assist of the season, having a point in back-to-back matches for the first time as a Catamount.
- Philipp Schmidtke recorded a tied match high two shots on goal.
- UVM outshot UMass 18 to eight and put seven on target to the Minutemen's five.
- Vermont took nine corner kicks to the Minutemen's six.
- With today's Win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to the Ronald McDonald House through the Cat's Win, Community Win's initiative. Vermont Mutual has donated over $6.4 Million Dollars since launching their Charitable Giving Fund.
UP NEXT
Following the win over UMass to wrap up regular season non-conference play, the Catamounts will get four days to prepare for their next match, staying home and returning to America East action to face NJIT on Saturday (Oct. 3) at 4 p.m. from Virtue Field. Saturday's contest against the Highlanders is during UVM Weekend. EastRise, PC Construction (250 t-shirts), and UVM PACE will be tabling along the concourse with fun activities and small giveaways for fans. Supercuts will also be onsite, offering free green & gold (washable) hair spray & glitter for fans. Dunkin will also be in attendance offering free drink samples on the concourse.
For news and updates about the Vermont men's soccer program, follow @UVMmsoccer on Instagram, X, and Facebook, and visit UVMathletics.com.
EastRise Credit Union is the presenting sponsor of Vermont soccer
