UVM women’s soccer seeks bounceback season

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The Fall sports season is just around the corner at UVM, and in a little over a week, the first group of Catamounts will play their first game of the new school year.

Vermont women’s soccer is the first of the Catamounts’ Fall teams to take the field for a competitive match. UVM is getting set to head down to BU for their opener one week from Thursday.

The cats entered last season on a tremendous high after claiming the 2021 America East title, but graduation and injuries were hard on the 2022 group. Vermont lost key pieces Alyssa Oviedo and Frances O’Donnell early on and sputtered to a 4-9-3 campaign without a single conference victory.

But there is optimism among the 2023 group. Underclassmen Kate Bossert and Sydney Remington stepped up big time last year and return with a full year of experience under their belt...as do Oviedo and O’Donnell for one last go-round. Those super seniors say that this preseason camp feels a lot like two years ago.

“I think last year, we had a lot of younger players step into roles,” Oviedo said. “I think that was a big learning lesson for a lot of us and also communication. I think we learned a lot last year about communication style, and being a team, holding each other accountable and setting the standard really high. I think it’s really good vibes coming into the season and taking all that we learned from last year.”

“I think there’s a lot to be said about what you learn and what you have to deal with when you come off a year that maybe wasn’t the best on paper,” O’Donnell said. “There still was a lot of good soccer and good talent on our team last year for sure. Taking those positives, leaving behind some of those negatives, and going into the season full force and ready to go.”

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