BALTIMORE - After 86 minutes of a scoreless knock-down-drag-out battle, UMBC ultimately dropped Saturday evening's contest to 16th-ranked Vermont, 1-0.
The Retriever defense remained organized and intense throughout the tilt, limiting Vermont to just nine total shots in the match, including a pair on target.
Jackson Boonmast made a tremendous save to keep the match knotted at 0-0 in the 7th minute, but the Catamounts broke through in the 87th, as Aleksei Carnier found Luis Vetter, who headed it past Boonmast for the game-winning goal.
UMBC nearly tied the contest in the 89th minute as the ball bounded out to
Flynn Holdem who put a tremendous strike on the ball, but it caught the bottom of the woodwork and caromed out of the net to keep Vermont ahead.
Earlier in the second half,
Simon Vujinovic nearly gave UMBC an advantage in the 67th minute, heading a corner kick from
Alberto Galicia at the near post, but Lucas Herceg covered it to keep the match scoreless. Vermont's David Ismail thought he put the Catamounts ahead with 12:43 to play, beating Boonmast, but the officials immediately called handling, and upheld it on video review.
Holdem had a pair of chances to start the scoring early for UMBC, but the freshman had a shot blocked in the third minute, and another saved in the fourth.
The Retrievers held the advantage in shots 10-9, and the advantage in corner kicks 4-1.
Vermont improved to 8-1-3, 2-0-1 in the victory, while UMBC fell to 3-6-1, 0-3-0.
The Retrievers will travel to Binghamton on October 17 for a 1 p.m. start.
