UVM men’s soccer stuns Quinnipiac to advance to NCAA second round

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - In one of the most dramatic games ever played in the short history of Virtue Field, Alex Nagy’s double overtime winner was the difference. The UVM men’s soccer team is moving on to the second round of the NCAA tournament after downing Quinnipiac 3-2.

Vermont got off to a great start in this one, with Max Murray’s fifth minute opener ending a 200+ minute scoring drought for the Cats, who were shutout in back to back games by Albany.

But the Bobcats would answer on either side of halftime, with Vermont Green F.C. alumnus Brage Aasen leveling the score before the break and Tomas Svecula handing the visitors the lead on a 73rd minute penalty kick.

Vermont responded less than three minutes later, with Noah Egan heading home a deadly corner kick off the foot of Yaniv Bazini to send the game into overtime level at 2-2.

The NCAA recently overhauled its overtime rules, forcing two full ten-minute extra periods instead of the traditional golden goal format. It took almost that full time to find a winning goal.

In the 109th minute, Alex Nagy started a Vermont push into the attacking zone. Joe Morrison had a look in the box blocked, but Nagy vollied the rebound off the far post and in to deliver UVM a stunning 3-2 overtime winner.

“Number one, of course,” Nagy said when asked where the goal ranked in his long college career. “If you watched the game, I couldn’t really run towards the end. That was a long game but you can’t beat that feeling. It was unreal.”

“That’s Catamount soccer, baby!” added head coach Rob Dow after the win, his first NCAA Tournament victory since taking over as the head coach in 2017. “We got clutch moments, you look at guys on this team just willing to sell out. And for a guy like Alex Nagy as a 5th year senior to end it, it’s pretty sweet.”

Vermont is moving on to the NCAA round of 32 for the first time since 2016 and just the fourth time in program history. The Cats will travel to Texas to face #11 SMU on Sunday night, where a win would send UVM to its first Sweet 16 since 1989.

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