UConn and Vermont Renew Rivalry

First Meeting in 18 Years Once Again Comes in Tournament

November 27, 2007

By Nick Williams

Who: Vermont at UConn
Where: Storrs, Connecticut
When: Wednesday, Nov. 28 – 7 p.m.

The last time the Vermont men’s soccer team faced UConn was in 1989. George Bush was president, The Simpsons started running as a series on FOX, the United States had troops stationed in Iraq and the Catamounts were the favorites, defeating the Huskies, 2-0, at UVM’s Centennial Field in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Eighteen years later, not much has changed. Except this time UConn is the favorite – and overwhelmingly at that.

UConn's Julius James was the BIG EAST Defender of the Year.

The BIG EAST Champion Huskies (18-2-1) are currently ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA/adidas poll and No. 1 in the Soccer America poll. This is UConn’s 10th consecutive trip to the College Cup and 28th overall. And as the No. 3 seed, the Huskies are guaranteed home field advantage until the College Cup semifinals as long as they continue to advance.

The America East Champion Catamounts (9-9-3), fresh off a penalty kick victory over long-time rival Dartmouth, have another big challenge ahead of them. Vermont’s win over Dartmouth extended its unbeaten streak to eight games (5-0-3) and continued the Catamount’s torrid run to the tournament after starting the season an abysmal 4-9-0.

On Saturday at Dartmouth, Vermont trailed 1-0 before a goal by Connor Tobin with 26 seconds left in regulation resuscitated the Catamounts and forced extra time. After two scoreless overtime periods, UVM eliminated the Big Green, 4-3, in a shootout bolstered by a pair of sensational saves by goalkeeper Roger Scully (East Lyme, Conn.). Tobin converted the final penalty kick to send the Catamounts to the second round for the second time in eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

They’ll face a Connecticut team that hasn’t played in nine days. UConn hasn’t seen the pitch for game action since a 2-0 victory over Notre Dame in the BIG EAST Championship. The Huskies ended the regular season with a share of the BIG EAST Blue Division title and the top seed in the BIG EAST tournament before shutting out South Florida (2-0) in the quarterfinals and then beating Louisville (5-1) in the semis.

While the Huskies may have to shake off some rust, they will have history on their side. UConn leads the all-time series with Vermont, 15-10-1, including three tilts in the NCAA Tournament. This will be the fourth meeting in the NCAAs between former Yankee Conference rivals and the first in the second round. UConn won the first two games, both in Storrs, 4-3 in overtime in 1975 and 6-2 in 1981 before the Cats prevailed in 1989 with a 2-0 victory at Centennial Field.

Still, the Huskies are 11-2-1 when the teams have meet in Storrs, with UVM’s last victory coming in 1968. UConn has also won two national titles, in 1981 and in 2000.

Coach Ray Reid's talented team is led by senior All-American back Julius James who was named Big East Defender of the Year for the third time and junior forward O'Brian White, the Big East Offensive Player of the Year, who leads the nation in both goals (19) and points (41). The Huskies rank 10th in the NCAA in offense (2.19 goals per game) and are eighth in goals against average (0.56) with freshman Josh Ford playing all 21 games in goal.

Against that type of firepower, goalkeeper Scully, who came up big for UVM in PKs against Dartmouth, will need to keep his team in the game again. Scully fashioned a 0.61 GAA in the regular season to go along with a .860 save percentage.

The winner of the UVM-UConn match will move on to the third round to play the winner of South Florida-Akron. Third round matches are slated for either Saturday, December 1 or Sunday, December 2.

Material from school press releases was used in this report.

Return from UConn and Vermont Renew Rivalry to College Soccer

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: