FINAL SCORE: UMBC 1, #16 Vermont 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – 16th ranked Vermont (8-2-4, 3-1-1 AE) had its 12-game unbeaten streak snapped Saturday night as UMBC upset the Catamounts 1-0 behind a 50th minute goal from Joseph Picotto.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Our defense played to win tonight but our attack didn't do enough in the final third," said Head Coach Rob Dow. "UMBC's defense sacrificed more to get the clean sheet.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• In a scoreless first half UVM's Niklas Herceg made three saves for the Catamounts.
• Vermont's best opportunity of the first half came in the final minutes. With just over five minutes left in the half Jeremy Tsang earned a free kick about 25 yards out. Tsang took the free kick and delivered a great ball to Marcell Papp, Papp headed the ball down from right in front but UMBC's Emigdio Tormo Lopez made the stop.
• The Retrievers scored the game-winner early in the second half. Picotto drilled a ball from 25 yards out and it deflected off a Vermont defender's head and sailed into the top corner past Herceg.
• In the 71st minute Sydney Wathuta drilled a shot from 30 yards out that was destined to sail just under the bar, UMBC's Tormo Lopez just tipped it over the crossbar to deny the Catamounts.
• With under 15 minutes left Wathuta almost scored again. This time his through ball from near the sideline made its way through traffic and struck the far post. UVM put the rebound back on goal, but it was cleared off the line by a UMBC defender.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• After match day five in America East the Catamounts are tied atop the table with 10 points with New Hampshire. NJIT sits in third place three points back of Vermont and UNH. The top two teams in the league receive a bye to the America East Semifinals on Wednesday, November 13. UNH travels to NJIT on November 1.
• Picotto's second half tally snapped a shutout streak of 339:47 by Niklas Herceg and the Catamounts.
• Tonight was Vermont's first loss since August 22 at #9 Western Michigan.

UP NEXT
The Catamounts return to action next Friday, November 1 as they travel to face UMass Lowell at 3 p.m. Vermont's road finale will air live for free on AmericaEast.TV.

For news and updates about the Vermont men's soccer program, follow @UVMmsoccer on Instagram, X, and Facebook, and visit UVMathletics.com.

EastRise Credit Union is the presenting sponsor of Vermont soccer