Vermont Stuns Men's Soccer with Goal in Last Minute

BOX SCORE

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – A last minute goal off the foot of University of Vermont senior D.J. Edler lifted the Catamounts to a 2-1 victory over the Hartford men's soccer team in America East action on Saturday evening at Al-Marzook Field. With the heartbreaker, the Hawks, who have yet to find a win in league play, fall to 3-8-4 (0-2-2 AE) while Vermont moves to 7-6 (2-2 AE). Hartford will next host UMBC on Saturday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m.

Senior Patrick Boucher put Hartford on the scoreboard 14 minutes into the second period however the Hawks conceded a pair of late goals, including the game-winner with just 25 seconds to play in regulation.

After recently shifting from the Hawks' defensive line to the midfield unit, Boucher cleaned up the duties on junior midfielder's Kevin Lewis' shot when he headed home his teammates' rebound from just six yard out to put the Hawks ahead at 1-0 in the 59th minute. The goal was Boucher's first of the season while Lewis notched his first point as a collegian on the play.

Vermont, however, countered in the 78th minute when it capitalized on a Hawks' foul inside of the 18-yard box. Veteran Joe Losier took the honors for the Catamounts and with a low shot directed toward the center of the net off of his right foot, beat Hartford keeper Luke Citriniti just to the right.

Edler would prevent extra time when he collected a corner kick from fellow classmate Juan Peralta with just 25 ticks remaining on the clock and chipped in the deciding goal from just three yards out.

The opening stanza was a different story as Hartford dominated with 11 shots and held its counterparts to just three first half attempts.

Vermont was hampered in the first half by a pair of offsides calls that prevented the Catamounts from putting early notches on the scoreboard. The first violation came in the 13th minute that saw Yannick Lewis' header on a throw-in from eight-yards out, which hit the crossbar and bounced on the goal line, called back.

Just 10 minutes later, the Catamounts found the back of the net on what appeared to be the first goal of the match, however offsides was called on the field and the tally was waived off in the 23rd minute.

The Hawks saw three scoring opportunities in the opening stanza, two of which came from sophomore Anthony Santaga. In the 25th minute, Santaga tracked down a corner kick off the boot of James Stamopoulos and nearly missed the target with a shot that skimmed the right goal post.

With 92 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, sophomore transfer David Bernhardsson initiated a series of Hawks' opportunities when he fired a shot from point blank, just five-yards out from the left, directly at Vermont keeper David Ramada. After landing the rebound, Santaga rifled another attempt from point blank, hitting the left post from just yards out.

Hartford combined to outshoot Vermont, 20-9, and held the slight edge in corner kicks at 12-11. In goal, Citriniti registered four saves for the Hawks while Ramada collected six.

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