UVM Takes Down Hartford

Catamounts Advance to America East Semis

November 9, 2008

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Vermont men’s soccer team advanced to the America East semifinals after beating Hartford, 3-1, at Centennial Field on Saturday.

Clutch goalkeeping by Roger Scully (East Lyme, Conn.) and early goals by Patrick Alonis and Jordan Crasilneck paced the fourth-seeded Catamounts (9-3-7), who will move on to face top-seeded Boston University in the semis on Wednesday.

Alonis and Crasilneck scored five minutes apart in the first half to give UVM an early lead and it held on for the victory due to Scully, who made a season-high nine saves including several from point blank range. Freshman Lukas Peterson (Burlington, Vt.) scored the final goal with just over six minutes left to halt the Hawks comeback bid.

"I'm very proud of our team today- to be successful against a skilled team like Hartford isn't easy," said Vermont head coach Jesse Cormier. "They have a high skill level and are difficult to play against, especially in a playoff game. Our guys managed the game well and Lukas scored a real big goal to seal it."

At 11:42 as Alonis finished a great feed from Kouadio for his second goal of the season. Five minutes later, a long pass from Ryan White sent Crasilneck down the right side and he moved around Hawks keeper Nenad Cudic to blast home his third goal of the season.

Hartford began to get the better of the play for the remainder of the half. In the 24th minute, Scully made a nice save on Ivan Guerin's low drive but Carlos Villa punched home the rebound to make it 2-1.

With 13:55 left Scully made a sprawling stop of a drive by Guerin and on the hard rebound, UVM caught a break as the Hawks jumped offside. With Hartford still pressing, Petersen, on an assist from Yannick Lewis, put the game out of reach with his second goal in his last three games.

"We came out and played hard with a lot of focus," said UVM senior back Connor Tobin, the 2008 America East Defender of the Year. "You have to at this time of the year to live to play another game.

The defending champion Catamounts head to the semifinals for the third straight season and take on the top-seeded Terriers (9-5-3) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at BU's Nickerson Field.

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb