Vermont
How Vermont soccer survived to advance at the NCAA Tournament
NCAA Tournament: Vermont soccer vs Hofstra postgame news conference
Coach Rob Dow and David Ismail chat with media after Vermont soccer’s 2-1 win over Hofstra at the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Courtesy of UVM athletics
Vermont soccer winning games in late November? Its players producing dazzling strikes? The unexpected has become the norm for the Catamounts at the NCAA Tournament.
From Yaniv Bazini’s half-volley for the opening tally to David Ismail’s majestic, heel-over-head volley to break a second-half tie, Vermont ousted seventh-seeded Hofstra for a 2-1 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
The Catamounts (13-2-5) advance to the third round for the third straight season and will play at San Diego (15-2-2) on Sunday, Dec. 1. Game time is set for 8 p.m. eastern.
Vermont, though, had to weather Hofstra’s waves of pressure, chances and one disallowed goal over the last 10-plus minutes to survive Sunday’s match.
Hofstra’s Roc Carles appeared to level the contest at 2 on a right-footed blast inside the box with 4 minutes, 7 seconds left in regulation. But after a brief delay, officials ruled that Jacob Woznicki was in an offside position and screened UVM goalie Niklas Herceg on Carles’ shot, negating the equalizer.
Prior to that sequence, Hofstra also rocked the left post and Vermont defenders and Herceg held firm on several dangerous crosses and corners.
Bazini gave Vermont a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. From his own half, Mike Bleeker lifted a left-footed ball about 50 yards to Bazini, who positioned himself well against a Hofstra defender and redirected the pass toward the 18. On a half-volley, Bazini drove a low, right-footed shot past the diving Filippo Dadone (one save) and inside the right post for the seventh NCAA Tournament goal of his career.
Vermont took a 1-0 lead into the break. The Pride (14-5-2) evened the contest in the 50th minute. On a quick-moving counter, Teddy Baker raced down the left sideline, cut back to the middle and pushed a ground pass into the box. The pass took an awkward deflection of a Vermont defender, bouncing to Woznicki, who hammered a shot from close range into the back of the net.
Vermont’s response came swiftly, and with a finish that should rank as one of Vermont’s best goals in program history.
From the right side, Zach Barrett chipped into the box for a hard-charging Ismail, who reached back to flip the ball over his head with his right heel. Before the ball could bounce off the turf, Ismail swept his right foot through the ball from a tight angle to beat an outstretched Dadone.
Herceg finished with four saves for the Catamounts, who handed Hofstra its first home loss in 22 games.
Over the last three seasons, Vermont has seven NCAA Tournament victories; it had four in its program history prior to that. The Catamounts reached the quarterfinals in 2022, one win shy of advancing to the College Cup semifinals. Last fall, they lost to West Virginia in the Round of 16.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.