BOSTON – No. 4 Seed and defending #AEMSOC Champion Bryant advanced to Sunday’s Championship match 4-2 on penalty kicks Wednesday, while Vermont grabbed its one and only lead in the 106th minute on a wild evening of America East Men's Soccer semifinal action.
The second seeded Catamounts fell behind at the end of the first half, but Yaniv Bazini netted the equalizer in the second and then provided the game winner in double overtime to lift Vermont to its first championship appearance since 2021.
Bryant and New Hampshire were locked in a defensive battle all night as neither team could break through in 110 minutes of soccer. The contest moved to penalty kicks and Antreas Hadjigavriel made a pair of diving saves as his team advanced 4-2. It’s the first #AEMSOC playoff game to go to penalty kicks knotted 0-0 since 2017.
Vermont will host the #AEMSOC Championship this Sunday at 1 PM on ESPN+. It marks the program’s first opportunity to host the title match since they won the 2015 championship at home, 1-0 over Binghamton as the No. 2 seed.
Semifinal Recap
No. 4 Bryant 0, No. 1 UNH 0 (Bryant advances 4-2 on PK’s)
- Neither team was able to generate much offense in the opening half with both teams totaling three shots and one apiece on net.
- UNH had a chance ten minutes into the second half as Matteo Piccardo headed a cross to the corner of the net, but Hadjigavriel was able to make the save.
- Both teams had chances over the final 20 minutes of regulation and both overtimes, but it went to penalty kicks tied 0-0.
- Both teams made their first penalty kicks, but Bryant missed its second and Hadjigavriel saved UNH’s shot.
- Jonas Lyshoj scored for a 2-1 lead and the Hadjigavriel made another save to preserve the advantage.
- Marc Pitarch Bayot made his PK and Tibo Jacobs was the hero one shot later as he came through with the goal for the 4-2 edge.
No. 2 Vermont 2, No. 3 UMBC 1 (2OT)
- The offense was slow developing early, though in the 31st minute Emigdio Tormo Lopez was forced to make a diving save on a shot by Sydney Wathuta.
- Five minutes later a pair of Retriever defenders combined to save the ball on the goal line after it got past Lopez.
- UMBC broke through at 42:13 as Tyquan Stroud fed Loc San a beautiful through ball and he was able to finish in beneath the sliding Niklas Herceg for a 1-0 lead.
- The Catamounts continued to press in the second half and finally broke through in the 77th minutes as Bazini was able to chip a ball over Lopez for the game-tying goal.
- Vermont was unable to convert in regulation, but in double overtime Bazini made a diving kick to slide it into the net for the game-winner.
Stay up-to-date on the tournament by visiting Championship Central for streaming and live stats links as well as box scores, highlights and recaps following each round in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
Follow @AmericaEast on X to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEMSOC hashtags to join the conversation.
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