UNH earns No. 1 seed and will host four-team America East Championship
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Graduate student Paul Mayer (Strasbourg, France) posted one goal and one assist for three points as the No. 11 University of New Hampshire men's soccer team defeated Vermont, 2-1, on Friday at Virtue Field to win the America East Regular Season Championship.
The Wildcats are the America East Regular Season Champions for the second straight season and will be the No. 1 seed in the four-team America East Championship. UNH will host the semifinals and finals at Wildcat Stadium on Thursday, April 15 and Saturday, April 17.
No. 1 seed UNH will take on No. 4 seed Hartford at 2 p.m. on Thursday, while No. 2 seed Vermont will play No. 3 seed NJIT at 7 p.m. The winners will play for the championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m. A limited number of UNH undergraduate student spectators will be allowed to attend the three games. Please view the Spectator Policy.
The Wildcats will be looking to win their third straight America East Tournament.
The Wildcats improve to 6-0-1 (5-0-1 AE), while the Catamounts fall to 4-1-1 (4-1-1 AE). Score: New Hampshire 2, Vermont 1 Records: UNH (6-0-1, 5-0-1 AE), UVM (4-1-1, 4-1-1 AE) Location: Burlington, Vt. (Virtue Field) Date: Friday, April 9, 2021
HOW IT HAPPENED: Paul Mayer scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season (Photo by Nich Hall)
Graduate student Sam Henneberg (Guildford, England) took the first shot on goal of the game as his attempt went to the lower right side but was saved by Nathan Silveira in the sixth minute.
In the 17th minute, graduate student goalkeeper Alejandro Robles (Monterey, Mexico) made a save on a shot from 18 yards out by Evan Rouleau.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute (23:30) when Mayer sent a shot to the left side of the net for his fifth goal of the goal season. Senior Victor Menudier (Limoges, France) tallied an assist on the goal.
Then in the 27th minute, Silveira made a save on a one-timer from Menudier from eight yards out.
The Wildcats took four shots on goal and the Catamounts posted one during the first half.
Sophomore Bilal Kamal (London, England) increased the lead to 2-0 with his third goal of the season in the 55th minute. Mayer posted an assist on the goal.
The Catamounts responded with a goal by Bjarni Adalsteinsson to cut the Wildcat lead to 2-1 at 64:00.
But the Wildcats were able to prevent the Catamounts from netting the equalizer for the 2-1 final score.
The Wildcats will be the No. 1 seed in the America East Championship (Photo by Nich Hall) INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
New Hampshire and Vermont each took 12 shots, while the Wildcats posted six shots on goal and the Catamounts recorded four.
Each team took four corner kicks.
Robles saved three shots for the 'Cats, while Silveira posted four.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
This is the second straight season the Wildcats will be the No. 1 seed in the America East Tournament. The Wildcats will be looking to win their third straight America East Tournament championship as UNH won in 2018 and 2019.
This is UNH's second America East Regular Season Championship in program history.
Mayer has a team-best five goals and 11 points.
The game-winner was Kamal's second as a UNH Wildcat.
The Wildcats are 3-0-0 on the road this season.
The (603) Challenge is underway from April 9-13. To support the men's soccer team please donate here.
.png&type=webp)
