FINAL SCORE: #17 Vermont 2, UMBC 1
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Yaniv Bazini scored twice for the Catamounts including the game-winner with 4:05 to play in double overtime as the 17th ranked Vermont (10-2-5) men's soccer team topped UMBC (8-7-4) 2-1 Wednesday night from Virtue Field in the America East Semifinals.
 
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HOW IT HAPPENED

• UMBC's goalkeeper Emigdio Tormo Lopez continued his shutout streak in the first half making three saves including a diving stop on Sydney Wathuta.
• The Retrievers stunned the crowd with a late first half goal in transition. Loc San scored his second goal of the season in the 43rd minute. San took a feed from Tyquan Stroud on the edge of the box. San snuck a feed under UVM's Niklas Herceg to give UMBC the lead.
• In the second half the Catamounts poured on the offense. Yaniv Bazini finally snapped Tormo Lopez's shutout streak at 471 minutes.
• Zach Barrett played a ball back into the box and Max Murray flicked it forward to Bazini. As Tormo Lopez came to meet the ball Bazini was able to get the first touch on the ball and redirect it home to tie things at one apiece in the 77th minute.
• Tormo Lopez continued his strong play in the first overtime session, making two saves. He finished with a career-high 10 on the night.
• Bazini delivered the winner for the Catamounts in the 106th minute. David Ismail played a pass into the box for Bazini. With his back to the goal, Bazini deftly turned in a fluid movement to lose two UMBC defenders before poking the ball past Lopez for his 10th game-winner at Vermont.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• With two goals this evening Yaniv Bazini is now tied for sixth all-time at Vermont with 25 career goals.
• The Catamounts offense and depth has come through time and time again this season. UVM has scored 15 goals in the 76th minute or later and 11 goals in the 83rd minute or later this year.
• Vermont earned all 12 corners Wednesday night.
• This evening was the third semifinal matchup in America East history between UMBC and Vermont, in the previous two instances the team that advanced went on to win the America East Championship.
• The Catamounts .735 win percentage this season is tied for 16th best in the NCAA.
• The Catamounts are 12-9-3 all-time as the home team in the America East Tournament.
• The Catamounts are 11-10-1 all-time in the America East Semifinals. Under Head Coach Rob Dow UVM is 3-3-0 in the semifinals.
• With the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Children's Trust Foundation as part of the Cats Wins, Community Wins Initiative.

UP NEXT
The Catamounts will host the four-seed Bryant (10-5-4) in the 2024 America East Championship Sunday, November 17 at 1 p.m. from Virtue Field. It will be the first time UVM has hosted the league championship since 2015. The action will air live on ESPN+ with Brian McLaughlin on the call. Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased at go.uvm.edu/champ24.
 
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