BURLINGTON – The Caledonia United boys soccer team celebrated their record breaking season over the weekend by witnessing the defending Division 1 national champion UVM Catamounts men’s soccer team on their way to their second consecutive America East title.
Head coach Peter Stratman and his Cal United team braved the cold last Wednesday to watch the Catamounts clip UNH 2-1 in the America East semifinals at Virtue Field.
UVM then rolled past Bryant 2-0 on Sunday to claim the America East title, improving to 14-0-5 and securing their fifth straight bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The Catamounts claimed the university’s first-ever team national title last fall and will defend their crown as the No. 2 team in the nation.
Bryant came into the America East championship as the No. 5 team in the country, suffering just their second loss of the season.
Despite the frigid cold, the Catamounts played in front of a raucous sold-out crowd for the twelfth consecutive time.
The Cal United trip to Virtue Field was made possible by the support of the Danville and Twinfield Boosters.
Stratman and his senior-laden team led by Eli Russell, Sam McLane, Josh Petersen, Jola Otten, Ben Monaco, Sean Lehoe, Alijah Andrews and Samson Kitonga, took Cal United to the program’s first ever Division IV state title match this fall with a 16-0 record.
Stratman was named Mountain League Coach of the Year and Russell took home Player of the Year honors.
Russell earned his second straight Vermont All-State selection after finding the back of the net a career-high 30 times this past season.
McLane and Petersen earned their first All-State selections for their stellar seasons on the pitch. McLane scored a career-high 26 goals for Cal United and Petersen anchored the defense with a program record 11 shutouts.
Making the trip to Rutland High School to play in the Division IV state title match was made even more special for the Stratman family with daughter Ava playing earlier in the day in her own state title match for Peoples Academy. The sophomore defender rebounded from a season ending knee injury last season to lead the Lady Wolves into the Division III championship with a pair of goals against Fair Haven in the semifinal round. For a coach that has now brought three different programs to the Division IV Final Four with over 170 career wins, it wasn’t lost on Stratman how special the entirety of the soccer season was for him this past fall.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been so cold, but what a great way to wrap up the season. I’m so appreciative of having the opportunity to coach a team like this and see great athletes who are great people like that bring their talents and personalities to positively influence a soccer program. Getting to cheer on my daughter and her team in her match before we took the field for ours made the day even more special for my family and our team. Watching her work to recover from that injury for nine months physically and mentally, and then seeing her and her team achieve that kind of success brought out a lot of emotion,” said Stratman.
The Catamounts were awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament and will officially begin their title defense Sunday in the second round against the winner of Syracuse-Hofstra.
