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Off to its best eight-game start since 1975, 20th-ranked Vermont returns to Virtue Field this week to begin a four-game homestand in Burlington. The 7-1 Catamounts host UMass on Wednesday (Sept. 21) at 7 p.m. before a matchup against regional rival Dartmouth on Saturday (Sept. 24) at 2 p.m.
Prior to the Saturday game against Dartmouth, UVM will host a ribbon cutting event for the new grandstand and press box at Virtue Field. Tickets are available at
UVMathletics.com/Tickets or at the Gutterson Box Office on gameday. Free live video of both games is available in HD via AmericaEast.TV at the links below.
RELATED LINKS
Free Video: UMass | Dartmouth
Top Drawer Soccer Top-25 Poll
RANKED CATS
Vermont entered the Top Drawer Soccer Top-25 Poll this week at No. 20 after defeating previously unbeaten Marist 2-1 on Saturday night. The Catamounts are receiving votes in the NSCAA Top-25 Poll and sit 29th overall, while remaining the No. 2 team in the NSCAA East Region. Undefeated UMass Lowell is one spot behind Vermont as the only other America East squad in the Top Drawer Soccer poll, while Dartmouth is a team under consideration at No. 30 and ranks seventh in the NSCAA East.
THE OFFENSIVE THIRD
Vermont currently ranks second in the nation with 20 goals scored through the first eight games and sits seventh overall in scoring offense (2.50 goals per game).
Brian Wright leads the country in assists (9) and ranks third in points (19), while fellow senior
Bernard Yeboah is tied for third in goals (8). Wright and Yeboah continue to represent the highest scoring duo in the NCAA, and both have at least one point in six of UVM's eight games. In addition to the senior pair, five other Catamounts have scored goals this season.
SCOUTING UMASS
The Minutemen (1-5-1) have struggled out of the gate but picked up their first win with a 2-0 shutout of Brown in Amherst on Saturday. UMass scored two goals in just over six minutes in the first half, including one from Alex DeSantis who leads the team with six points on two goals and two assists. Massachusetts went 4-3-1 in the Atlantic 10 last season before falling to Fordham 1-0 in the A-10 First Round. Fran O'Leary is in his second season as the head coach of the program after spending two years as an assistant with Toronto FC in MLS.
SCOUTING DARTMOUTH
The Big Green (1-1-3), which was receiving votes in last week's NSCAA poll, is coming off a 1-1 tie at unbeaten UMass Lowell on Saturday night. Dartmouth has tied all three of its road matches this year and collected its only win at home against 24th-ranked Seattle on Sept. 11. Four players have recorded three points this season to lead Dartmouth, while goalie James Hickok has started all five games with a 0.88 goals against average. The Big Green host America East member Hartford on Wednesday night before the short trip up I-89 to Burlington on Saturday.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont continues its four-game homestand next week when Hartwick visits Virtue Field on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. to close non-conference play. Stony Brook comes to Burlington on Saturday, Oct. 1 for a 4 p.m. kickoff to open the America East slate. The Stony Brook contest is the annual Rally Against Cancer Game presented by Otter Creek Awnings and Vermont Custom Closets. Both games can be seen live for free in HD via AmericaEast.TV.
