It was an intense and rainy matchup in the Green Mountain State, as the UConn men’s soccer team faced the Vermont Catamounts last night.
With only one spot separating Connecticut and Vermont in the RPI rankings (Connecticut at 51 and Vermont at 52), both of these New England foes came into the match hungry for a win.
In the beginning minutes of the first half, the two-time Big East freshman of the week, Max Kerkvliet was an integral component in preventing Vermont from getting the ball in the goal.
One of the main parts of Vermont’s persistent offensive attack was from red shirt senior forward, Yaniv Bazini, who managed to weave through the Huskies defense in the first half.
Bazini had an opportunity to slide the ball to the left of the net, but it never connected and hit the crossbar.
The Catamounts possessed the ball for the majority of the first half, despite Bazini’s opportunity being one of their primary chances to get a goal.
However, in the 30th minute of the game, junior Charlie Holmes had a scoring opportunity after heading the ball towards the Catamounts net, but Vermont denied it.
Despite both teams actively fighting to get on the board, it wasn’t enough, and the score stayed 0-0 heading into halftime.
In the second half, it was, yet again, the Catamounts ball a majority of the time.
However, Kerkvliet was still standing tall for the Huskies and kicked away a chance from a dipping and diving kick from Sydney Wathuta of the Catamounts.
Just moments later, 15 minutes into the second half, Kerkvliet had to deny the Catamounts again after a UConn turnover.
Although Kerkvliet took up the challenge to face Vermont’s persistent offense, Vermont eventually found the net on a shot he had no chance of saving. Bazini got revenge after rebounding the ball from his teammate, heading the ball into the net and Kerkvliet could not save the routine finish.
Despite various shots on goal, in his first game as a Catamount, freshman Niklas Herceg shut out the Huskies, preventing them from scoring and breaking their season unbeaten streak.
Next up for the Huskies, they will return to Storrs to face Georgetown on Saturday, Oct. 12 for the annual whiteout game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. If UConn fans cannot make it to the pitch, they can stream the match on FloFC.
These next few games in the schedule will be difficult tests for Chris Gbandi and the Huskies as they look to move up in the rankings in the Big East and NCAA. However, having an unbeaten streak up until this point and Kerkvliet’s presence are a testament that this team is a force to be reckoned with.