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BURLINGTON, Vt. – For the second time in four years, Vermont is the America East men’s soccer champion! Maximillian Kissel’s late goal broke a 1-1 tie and sealed the tournament title for the second-seeded Catamounts, who downed fourth-seeded Bryant, 2-1, in the 2024 America East Men’s Soccer Championship Game on Sunday in front of a sold out crowd of 2,400 fans at Virtue Field.
 
America East Defender of the Year Zach Barrett was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after spearheading Vermont’s defensive effort in two hard-fought victories.
 
The Catamounts, who are ranked 17^th in the United Soccer Coaches National Poll, will learn their tournament fate tomorrow during the 2024 NCAA Men’s Soccer selection show at 1 p.m. onNCAA.com. Vermont will be making its fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance and has advanced to at least the third round each of the past two seasons.
 
How It Happened:

• Both teams played conservatively in the first half as there were only a combined 10 shots and only one on goal.
• That lone shot came from Vermont’s Yaniz Bazini but Bryant’s Antreas Hadjigavriel, who earned All-Championship honors, made the stop.
• Andrew Millar had the first true scoring chance in the 50^th minute but Hadjigavriel made the save.
• Bryant, last year’s America East champion, put the pressure on getting its first three shots on net in a 6:15 span, but Niklas Herceg stopped all of them, including a magnificent diving stop on Marc Pitarch Bayot’s opportunity in the 59^th minute.
• Vermont (11-2-5) opened the scoring 10 minutes later as Marcell Papp blasted a shot to the bottom right corner giving the Catamounts a 1-0 lead with just over 20 minutes left in regulation.
• Bryant (10-6-4) found the equalizer in the 82^nd minute as Pitarch Bayot evened the game on a blast from 16 yards out.
• But Vermont averted overtime and scored what proved to be the game winner with under five minutes left as Kissel headed home a corner kick with just 4:53 remaining.
• The Bulldogs had one last chance to tie the game as Miguel Rodeia got a shot off in the 89^th minute, but Herceg, an All-Championship team member, made his fourth and final save.

 
Barrett and Herceg were named to the All-Championship team, along with Bazini and fellow Catamount Adrian Shulze-Solano as well as Hadjigavriel, Christian Meritt and Sam White from Bryant.  The other members of the All-Championship Team were Sergio Martinez Cubel (NJIT), Carlo Cavalar (Binghamton), Baptiste Gateau (UNH), Aaron Williams Fernandez (UNH), Hans Nesheim (UMBC), Emigdio Tormo Lopez (UMBC).
 
Vermont’s Karl Daly was recognized as the winner of the Elite 18 award for having the highest GPA of any player in Sunday’s championship. The junior Business Administration major owns a 3.86 GPA.
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ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.