WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
The Vermont Catamounts will face the Princeton Tigers in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night 6 p.m. at Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium on the campus of Princeton University. Pat McCarthy will have the call Friday on ESPN+.
 
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HISTORY MADE ON SUNDAY | CatamounTV Highlights
Vermont won its first-ever America East Championship Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 win over the six-seeded New Hampshire Wildcats. Vermont native Cricket Basa scored the game-winning goal in the 80th minute in front of a raucous crowd of 2,017. Senior goalkeeper Lydia Kessel made five saves in the win.
 
Basa, Kessel, Alex West and Karen Wallace were named to the America East All-Championship Team. Basa was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
 
KESSEL HAVING A SEASON FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
With the win Sunday in the America East Championship, Lydia Kessel is now tied for first all-time in single season wins with 11. Paula LaMothe also posted 11 wins in the 1984 campaign. Kessel is also tied for seventh all-time at Vermont now with 15 career wins.
 
ANATOMY OF A STREAK
Vermont's current nine-game win streak is its longest since the 1979 campaign when the Catamounts opened the season with 13 straight wins. Vermont's winning streak is the third longest in the NCAA right now. Only Samford (12) and Milwaukee (13) have longer active streaks. The 1996 and 2021 team, both regular season champions, are the only teams in program history to win seven regular season conference games.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY FOR VERMONT
UVM women's soccer will be making its second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend. The 1984 Catamounts went 11-3-1 and qualified for the program's first appearance. In the tournament UVM fell 2-1 to Harvard.
 
AMERICA EAST IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
America East has 11 all-time NCAA wins and is 11-31 all-time in NCAA tournament play. The league has received multiple bids five times, most recently in 2006. Hartford has twice gone deep into the tournament, winning three games before falling in the quarterfinals in 1999 and reaching the Final Four in 1992.
 
SCOUTING PRINCETON
The Tigers were 14-2-1 this season and won the Ivy League with a record of 6-1-0. Princeton played six teams in the 2021 NCAA Tournament field and compiled a record of 3-2-1 in those games. Princeton has won five straight contests, the tenth-longest stretch in the NCAA.
 
Senior forward Gabi Jaurez is Princeton's leading scorer this season. She scored eight goals and five assists for 21 points this season. She scored three game-winning goals this season.
The Tigers are led in goal by senior keeper Grace Barbara. She has posted a clean sheet in six of the last seven games for Princeton. She's compiled a 10-2-1 record this year and was named Second-Team All-Ivy.
 
The two teams share one common opponent. The Tigers defeated Dartmouth 3-0 in Hanover on October 2, 2021. The Catamounts fell 2-1 at Dartmouth on August 29, 2021. The Tigers haven't faced an America East opponent since defeating New Hampshire 2-0 in their season-opener August 24, 2018.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will be the third time the Catamounts and Tigers faceoff and the first since 1987. UVM defeated Princeton 1-0 on October 30, 1986 and fell 3-1 at Princeton on September 26, 1987.
 
SUPER SOCCER SEASONS FOR CATAMOUNTS
This fall marked the first time in UVM Athletics history that the men's and women's soccer programs both advanced to the America East Championship game. Together the men's and women's programs went 15-3-1 against league opponents including a 9-1-0 mark at Virtue Field. The men's program faces No. 6 New Hampshire Sunday afternoon in the league championship at 2 p.m.
 
MAJOR AWARDS FOR THE CATAMOUNTS
Ella Bankert was named Midfielder of the Year, Lydia Kessel was named Goalkeeper of the Year and UVM's coaching staff led by Kristi Huizenga was honored as Coaching Staff of the Year on Tuesday. It is the first time in program history that a UVM student-athlete in women's soccer has been honored as Midfielder and Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
Bankert is the first Vermont player to win an America East major positional award. She led a midfield that helped Vermont obtain a league-best +10 goal differential in league play. She was at her best in conference play, ranking first in save percentage (.903), third in GAA (.646) and tied for second in shutouts (4). Led by Coach Huizenga in her 11th season, Vermont captured its second-ever regular season title. Huizenga is assisted by Michael Skelton and Gene Bushey.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
The Catamounts also had several players honored on the All-Conference teams. Alyssa Oviedo, Ella Banker, Alex West and Lydia Kessel were honored on the First Team. It is the first time since 1997 that UVM has had two members on the First Team. Senior defender Natalie Durieux was named to the All-Conference Second Team. Bailey Ayer and Maddy Cronin were named to the All-Rookie team.
 
TAKING A LOOK AT THE REGION | 2021 NCAA BRACKET
The winner of Friday night's matchup at Princeton will face the winner of the TCU/Prairie View A&M match also on Friday. If the top-seed in UVM's region Rutgers wins their first-round matchup the round-of-32 games in the region would be hosted by the Scarlet Knights on Friday, November 19.