Catamounts Make Soccer History, Hilltoppers Place Sixth at Nike Regionals
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The University of Vermont (UVM) men’s soccer team knocked off second seeded Pitt University over the weekend to advance to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history.
Caledonia United freshman Omar Miksic-Knibb led his team in scoring this past season and was named to the All-Mountain League First Team.
photo by Dorothy Hill
With the sound of high school and college basketballs bouncing in gymnasiums all over the state, UVM kept the soccer season alive for at least another week, continuing their improbable Cinderella run through the NCAA men’s soccer national tournament with a 2-0 win at Pitt on Saturday. Overcoming a 17-6 shot deficit, second half sub Maximillian Kissel took advantage of a Panther defensive miscue in the 51st minute to score the game-winner, propelling the Catamounts to their first ever College Cup. Yaniv Bazini laid to rest any possibility of a miraculous comeback from the Panthers with an insurance goal with 10 seconds to play in regulation. Freshman keeper Niklas Herceg saved his best performance of the season for the biggest stage, stopping 6 shots to record the sixth shutout of the season for the UVM defense. The Catamounts were ranked just outside of the top 16 seeds in the tournament after beating Bryant 2-1 last month to win their seventh America East Championship. They are the only unranked team left in the Final Four after navigating a gauntlet of national powers on the road the last two-plus weeks that has included Iona, Hofstra, San Diego, and now Pitt. The Catamounts became the second team from the America East to ever advance to the College Cup, with UMBC accomplishing the feat a decade ago.
UVM will travel to Cary, N.C., to take on third-seeded Denver on Friday for a 5 p.m. kick-off. If the Catamounts advance, they will take on the winner of top seeded Ohio State and No. 13 Marshall for a chance to play for a national title. The match will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Hilltoppers Place Sixth at Nike Regionals
WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – Coming off a fourth consecutive Division I state title and fifth-place finish in New Englands, the St. Johnsbury Academy (SJ) boys cross-country team capped off another impressive season with a sixth-place finish last month at the Nike Cross Country Northeast Regionals at Bowdoin Park.
SJA’s sixth place finish in New York on November 23 was the highest for any Vermont school featuring teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. Reigning Vermont Division I individual champ Emmet Johnson continued to lead the Hilltoppers with a 32nd place finish, followed by teammates Andrew Thornton-Sherman (38th) Issac Lenzini (82nd), and former Craftsbury Academy champion Charlie Kehler, who posted a top 100 finish.
Vermont’s previous best finish in the event was by U-32 in 2021, finishing seventh.
