VERMONT MEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
The Vermont men's soccer team opens up the 2015 campaign on the road for the third straight year. The Catamounts face Sacred Heart on Friday (Aug. 28) night (7 p.m.) and take on Hofstra at 12 p.m. on Sunday (Aug. 30).
 
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Feature: Season Preview
Burlington Free Press Look at the Newcomers
Sacred Heart Game Coverage – Live Stats
Hofstra Game Coverage – Live Stats | Video (free)
 
PRESEASON RESULTS
Vermont played a pair of preseason games to prep for the year. The Catamounts posted a 2-0 win at the University of Montreal and dropped a 3-2 decision to DII powerhouse Southern New Hampshire University.
 
PRESEASON POLL
Defending America East Champion UMBC and Hartford were selected as favorites to win the America East title in 2015. Both earned four first-place votes and 46 points. The Catamounts were picked to finish third in the America East Preseason Poll.
 
DOW PROMOTED TO ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH
Rob Dow who begins his fourth season on the UVM sidelines, was promoted to associate head coach in May. He has been with the Catamounts since 2012.
 
NEWCOMERS
11 newcomers join the program for the 2015 season – Trevor Colazzo, Skyler Davis, Loftur Eriksson, Clay Gattney, Stefan Lammana, Elliot Maker, Jerome Marinho, Patrick McCue, Ismail Temirov, Clay Thomas, and Greg Walton.
 
2014 RECAP
Vermont advanced to the America East Tournament for the 10th time in 11 years under Cormier and finished 2014 with an overall record of 8-9-2. The Catamounts return three of their top four scorers from a year ago, including leading scorer Brian Wright (21 points) who was named to the America East All-Conference First Team last season.
 
WRIGHT STUFF
Vermont is 9-3-1 in games when Brian Wright has scored a goal. The junior forward has four multi-point games in his career entering the 2015 season.
 
SEASON OPENERS
UVM is 9-1-1 in season openers under head coach Jesse Cormier.

ABOUT SACRED HEART
The Pioneers were picked to finish eighth in the 2015 Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll. SHU returns 18 players from last season, including leading goal scorer Mahmoud Kafel (4 gls, 9 pts). He has led Sacred Heart in goal in each of the last two seasons. The Pioneers were winless last season, going 0-16-2 and 0-6-1 in the league. Friday marks just the second meeting between the two teams. Sacred Heart won 1-0 in double overtime in 2007 in Fairfield, Connecticut in the first meeting.

ABOUT HOFSTRA
Hofstra returns 18 players from last season, including seven of nine players who recorded multiple point games. The Pride went 10-6-3 overall and were 5-2-1 in the league, winning a share of the Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA) regular season title in 2014. The team was picked to finish third in the 2015 preseason poll. Hofstra's 2015 roster features players from 10 different countries including midfielder Joseph Holland who ranked eighth among all NCAA Division I players in assists (9). Hofstra opens the season Friday against No. 15 Syracuse before facing the Catamounts on Sunday. Sunday marks the 12th meeting between the two teams. The Catamounts are 5-5-1 against Hofstra in the all-time series. The Pride posted a 1-0 win over UVM at Virtue Field last season.

KEEP UP WITH THE CATS
There are several ways to keep up with all the women's soccer news, notes and results in Catamount Country:
Twitter – follow @UVMmsoccer and when tweeting about the Catamounts use the hashtag #VCats
Instagram – follow us at instagram.com/vermontcatamounts
Facebook – like us at facebook.com/vermont.catamounts
YouTube – watch game highlights and other features at youtube.com/uvmathletics
 
Catamount Score Alerts - Can't make it to a game and not near a computer, receive the final score from all games via a text message to your mobile device. Click here to sign up for the Catamount Score Alerts for men's soccer and any other teams. Message and data rates may apply.
 
America East Digital Network - Watch all home games and America East games on the America East Digital Network. This season the University of Vermont is an official member of the America East Digital Network. All UVM home games and all America East road games can be seen on the network for FREE at AmericaEast.tv. Visit the men's soccer schedule for links to the video streams.

eNews - Receive game summaries, releases and weekly previews for UVM men's soccer delivered to your own personal email inbox by signing up for the UVM Men's Soccer eNews. The service is FREE, click here to sign up today.
 
WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts travel to Portland, Oregon to compete in the Nike Portland Invitational September 4 and 6. UVM faces Oregon State on September 4 at 7:30 p.m. (EST) and takes on the hosts, Portland, on Sunday at 8 p.m. (EST). The match versus Portland will be streamed online for free and live stats are available for both games.