FINAL SCORE: Vermont 2, Iona 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Nacho Lerech broke the scoreless tie in the 20th minute as Vermont (1-0) cruised to a 2-0 victory over Iona (0-1) on Thursday afternoon at Mazzella Field. The Catamounts open up the regular season with a win for the first time since 2018.
 
RELATED LINKS
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COACH'S QUOTE
"The team did a good job going on the road and managing challenging heat conditions," said head coach Rob Dow. "It's great to see our attack firing in the run of play again. We have a lot to improve on in and out of possession. I'm very proud that we continue to keep the standard of producing shutouts."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Lerech's season-opening goal came from the top of the 18-yard box where the forward rifled a kick into the upper right corner. Matt Black set up the tally with a beautiful header off of a deep pass from defender Noah Egan.
• Iona went on the counterattack following the Catamounts' goal. Ricardo Senen Pinillos kickstarted the Gaels' offense in the 23rd minute with a shot that was calmly stopped by Nate Silveira (5 saves). Camil Azzam Ruiz tested Silveira with a shot directed at the bottom left corner that was saved by the UVM goalkeeper.
• The Catamounts pushed back to start the second half with a 5-2 shot-advantage in the first 20 minutes of the frame. Lerech fired two of the aforementioned shots with one saved by Iona goalkeeper Zach Nelson (4 saves) in the 63rd minute.
• In the 66th minute with Vermont on attack, Lerech collected the ball inside the box to the right of the goal and found Alex Nagy streaking through the middle for his first goal of the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Lerech's three-point afternoon came in 66 minutes of action. The forward directed four shots, including three shots on goal.
• Nagy tallied a team-high five shots with two shots on goal.
• Silveira's clean sheet is the sixth of his Catamount career. The five-save effort also marks the second consecutive season that the East Providence, Rhode Island native has a clean sheet in the season opener.
• With today's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Foodbank as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Vermont Mutual has committed to donating $15,000 to Vermont Foodbank for the 2021 season. A special thank you to Vermont Mutual Insurance for their support. Vermont Mutual Insurance, protecting Vermonters since 1828.

WHO'S NEXT
The Catamounts' non-conference road trip continues on Sunday (Aug. 29) with a 12 p.m. clash at Lehigh. Fans can watch the afternoon contest live on ESPN+.

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