BURLINGTON – The No. 9 University of Vermont men’s soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to 18 matches Tuesday night by earning a 2-1 victory over Hofstra.
Coach Rob Dow tallied his 100th career win for UVM, which prevailed in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament second-round game. The reigning national champs improved to 5-0-3 on the season by defeating the 4-3 Pride, who have made four straight trips to the Big Dance.
Philipp Kühn and Niels Hartman scored for the Catamounts, who held a 7-1 advantage on corner kicks. UVM outshot Hofstra 8-3.
No goals were scored in the opening 45 minutes as the Catamounts held Hofstra to zero shot attempts throughout the entirety of the first half. Vermont tallied the first goal of the match in the 69th minute when a strong defensive play to get the ball back in Hofstra’s defensive zone from Nico Loebus resulted in Kühn connecting with Nick Lockermann on the near side of the box. A pass to Maximillian Kissel down low caused problems for the Pride defense and then the UVM striker elected to dish off a pass toward the middle of the goal mouth. The offering found the foot of Kühn, who crashed the net for his third goal of the season.
Hofstra pounced back in the 76th minute, thanks to Samuel Francou unleashing a rocket of a shot to the middle of the net. The scoring bid caught Vermont goalkeeper Niklas Herceg off-guard, allowing Francou to score his first goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1.
UVM didn’t back down, amping up the offensive pressure in the final 14 minutes. The Cardiac Cats buried the go-ahead goal in the 84th minute after Marcell Papp fed Loebus off a corner kick. Loebus sent a cross to the box and found the head of Hartman, who sent a shot toward the bottom-left corner to give Vermont a 2-1 advantage. It was Hartman’s first goal of the season and third of his career.
The Catamounts tamed Hofstra’s final attempts to tie the match, securing their fifth win of the season and finishing the four-game homestand in style. Dow became the third UVM coach to achieve 100 wins.
Kissel registered one assist against Hofstra, marking his third assist of the season. He has notched a goal or an assist in six of the Catamounts’ eight matches. Loebus tallied his second assist of the season Tuesday.
Tuesday’s matchup served as Vermont’s annual Peter Baldwin Memorial Game. The Catamounts will hit the road to face Fairfield at 6 p.m. Saturday.
