BOSTON – The Vermont Catamounts make their first appearance in the NCAA College Cup when they square off against No. 3 Denver in the National Semifinals, held at WakeMed Soccer Park on Friday evening at 5 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Vermont has been dominant in the tournament, taking down Iona, No. 7 Hofstra, San Diego and No. 2 Pitt en route to Cary. The Catamounts have outscored their opponents 10-1 to reach the semifinals and are coming off a 2-0 victory over No. 2 Pitt to punch their first ever ticket to the Men's College Cup.
Denver entered the 2024 tournament as the No. 3 seed, earning a first round bye. The Pioneers cruised to Cary by not allowing a goal in three tournament games. This is Denver's second trip to the Men's College Cup, first making an appearance in 2016 when it was knocked out by Wake Forest.
This matchup should be a defensive battle, as the Catamounts are also top-10 in goals allowed, tied with the Pioneers at 17. Remarkably, Vermont is almost tied in goal differential as well (28), just two goals ahead of Denver's 26. Vermont's sophomore forward Sydney Wathuta sits second nationally in assists (14), just one ahead of Denver's Sam Bassett.
Uncharted Territory
Vermont secured its first trip to the College Cup in program history with a victory over No. 2 Pittsburgh. Maximillian Kissel scored the game-winner in the 51st minute and Yaniv Bazini made it 2-0 in the final 15 seconds. Niklas Herceg made a career-high nine saves in the victory. The Catamounts previously reached the quarterfinals in 2022 and 1989, falling both times. Should Vermont win on Friday they would be the first America East team in any sport to play for a national championship.
America East in the College Cup
Vermont is the second America East program to reach the College Cup in the last 10 years. In 2014, UMBC became the first conference program to reach the Cup. The America East is just one of five conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12) to have two different schools that are full-time conference member schools reach the College Cup since 2014.
UMBC Makes College Cup Run in 2014
The Retrievers advanced on PKs against Wake Forest in the opening round before taking down No. 4 Maryland in the second round. UMBC then knocked off No. 13 Louisville 1-0 and advanced past No. 12 Creighton in penalty kicks (4-3) after playing to a 0-0 draw. The Retrievers gave up their only goal of the tournament to No. 16 Virginia in the semifinals as they fell 1-0.
Postseason Success in the America East
Since 2014, the America East has had four different programs reach the NCAA Round of 16: UAlbany, UMBC, New Hampshire and Vermont. UAlbany (2016), and UMBC (2014) have each reached once. UNH advanced in 2017 and 2021, while Vermont has reached each of the past three seasons (2022, 2023, 2024). Since 2021, the league is 12-6-1 in the NCAA tournament.
Multiple Teams in NCAA Tournament
From 2021-2023 the America East had multiple teams reach the NCAA tournament each season. In 2021 and 2022 both Vermont and New Hampshire qualified. Those two programs, along with Bryant all qualified in 2023.
Catching the Catamounts
Vermont has the most NCAA tournament wins of any program in the nation over the past three seasons, with nine victories. They broke a tie with Indiana in Saturday’s win.
New England Programs in the College Cup
Vermont is the first New England school to reach the College Cup since Providence in 2014. They’re seeking to be the first New England team to win a title since UConn in 2000.
Not Falling Behind
Vermont hasn’t trailed in any of its NCAA games. The last time the Catamounts trailed was the 76th minute of the America East semifinals against UMBC, a span of 479:14. The last time Vermont trailed by two goals was 10/1 against UMass, and they rallied to pull out the 2-2 draw.
Beating the Best
Vermont seeks to be just the second team in the last decade to beat two top-four seeds in one tournament run after taking down No. 2 Pitt last weekend. In 2015, No. 8 Stanford beat No. 1 Wake Forest (2-1) in the quarterfinals, tied No. 4 Akron (0-0) in the semifinals and beat No. 2 Clemson (4-0) in the Championship. In 2021, Clemson tied No. 1 Oregon State (1-1) in the Quarterfinals, tied No. 4 Notre Dame (1-1) in the Semifinals and beat No. 2 Washington in the Championship 2-0.
Scoring Machine
Yaniv Bazini has now scored in four consecutive NCAA tournament games. He is the first player to accomplish that feat since Marcel Zajac of Akron scored in five straight contests in 2019, and finished with six total goals as Akron lost in the Championship.
Super Sub
Maximillian Kissel ranks fourth in the nation with five game-winning goals this season, despite starting just four games this season and appearing in 22. His 10 goals are tied for second in the conference and 29th nationally.
ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit
www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -