BURLINGTON, Vt. – The UConn men’s soccer team (7-0-3, 2-0-1 Big East) will travel two states north to take on the University of Vermont (5-1-4, 1-0-1 America East) in a New England battle on Tuesday night.
The Huskies are coming off a 3-0 road win in conference play at Villanova University, led by a prolific effort from forward Scott Testori, defender Kieran Chandler, midfielders Nicolas Tomerius and Charlie Holmes. The Huskies are undefeated in the Big East this year and sit in first place in the East Division with seven points. Georgetown University and St. John’s University trail by one point in a tie for second place. Akron University is the only team with more points in the conference, leading the Midwest Division with nine points.
Similar to the Huskies’ last three games, Vermont is coming off a win after back-to-back draws. They opened America East Conference play with a 1-1 draw against the University of New Hampshire and a 2-2 draw against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) before bouncing back with a 4-1 win at the University at Albany (UAlbany) on Saturday night. The Catamounts currently sit in a four-way tie for first place, along with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell (UMass Lowell), New Hampshire and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
For the second consecutive week, goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet was named the Big East’s Freshman of the Week. The redshirt freshman from Houston, Texas registered his third straight shutout in net, including a four-save performance in a shutout win at Villanova.
Chandler was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll. The sophomore from Simsbury, Conn. helped limit Villanova to just four shots on goal. On the other end of the field, Chandler assisted two of the Huskies’ three goals.
Vermont forward Maximillian Kissel was named the America East Offensive Player of the Week, the second of his career. The junior from Wiesbaden, Germany scored twice against UAlbany and took four shots to help the Catamounts earn a draw with UMass.
UConn will be Vermont’s only opponent from the Big East Conference. However, that is not the case for the Huskies. Along with the Catamounts, Connecticut has faced the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and will later face Bryant University to cap off the team’s nonconference schedule.
This road game will complete a home-and-home series that began in 2023, where the Huskies were shut out by Vermont in Storrs, Conn. UConn beat the Catamounts at home in 2007 and 2018 but have never come out victorious in the Green Mountain State. Their only appearance on Vermont’s campus was on Nov. 11, 1989, which resulted in a 2-0 loss.
Following this midweek nonconference matchup, Vermont will return to conference play and stay at home to host NJIT on Sunday afternoon. The Huskies will return to Joseph J. Morrone Stadium at Rizza Performance Center where they will host Georgetown on Saturday night in the team’s “white out” game.
Tuesday night’s game is set to start at 6 p.m. from Virtue Field. The game is available to watch on ESPN+.