ALBANY, N.Y. – UAlbany men's soccer visits Burlington for an afternoon showdown with Vermont with America East Tournament seeding ramifications on the line.
 
Game Info
Sunday, October 23 at Vermont (2:00 pm)
Live Stats | AE.tv
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany returns its five leading scorers from the 2021 spring season, including top scorer Adam Aoumaich (4 goals, 1 assist) and 2019 America East Striker of the Year Austin DaSilva (2 goals, three assists)
• UAlbany's roster features 15 new players
• UAlbany is 3-4-0 on the road this season; Vermont is 3-0-1 at home
• Austin DaSilva ranks tied for third in the America East in assists (5)
• Carlos Tofern ranks third in shutouts (4)
• Vermont is the defending America East runner-up from the spring season
• After utilizing a unique three-pod scheduling format during the spring 2021 season, the America East will return to its regular round-robin format for the fall

Scouting Vermont
Vermont just saw a four-game unbeaten streak come to an end with a defeat at non-conference opponent Dartmouth.  Before that game, the Catamounts were the first team in the America East not to lose to first-place New Hampshire, tying the Wildcats on the road 1-1.  Vermont ranks second in the America East in scoring defense and third in scoring offense.  Two Catamounts' players, Nacho Lerech and Alex Nagy, lead the America East in shots per game, while goalkeeper Nathan Silveira ranks second in saves and goals-against average, and shares the conference lead with six shutouts.  UAlbany has lost to Vermont only twice since the 2014 season.
 
Last Time vs. Vermont
The Catamounts ended a seven-game losing streak to UAlbany in the latest matchup between the teams during the 2021 spring season.  During that streak, UAlbany outscored Vermont 17-2, including shutting out the Catamounts for five-straight games.  After a scoreless first half in which Vermont outshot UAlbany 5-1, including taking three shots in the first seven minutes, the Catamounts scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half, and would hold on to win by the same score.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany visited winless Colgate for its final non-conference game of the 2021 regular season.  The Raiders, who held an 7-1-2 series lead over the Great Danes since 2004, scored the first goal of the game on their only shot of the game to take a lead in the first half.  UAlbany rallied to score twice in the second half, and ultimately outshot Colgate 14-1 to claim a lead heading into Saturday's showdown with Vermont.
 
Around the America East
With three games remaining on the schedule, UAlbany is locked in a tie for second place, and a first-round bye in the America East Tournament, with Vermont.  New Hampshire retains the top overall spot, but saw its perfect season end with back-to-back ties against Yale and Vermont.  Stony Brook trails the top three by just one point, followed by UMBC two points behind them in fifth.  The sixth and final playoff spot features a three-way tie of teams with six points each, including Binghamton, Hartford, and UMass Lowell.
 
Common Opponents

• New Hampshire
  • UAlbany: 9/18 at #9 New Hampshire, L, 0-2
  • Vermont: 10/16 at #4 New Hampshire, T, 1-1 (2OT)
• NJIT
  • UAlbany: 9/25 vs. NJIT, W, 2-1
  • Vermont: 10/9 at NJIT, W, 1-0
• Dartmouth
  • UAlbany: 10/5 at Dartmouth, L, 0-1
  • Vermont: 10/19 at Dartmouth, L, 0-1
• Hartford
  • UAlbany: 10/9 at Hartford, W, 1-0 (OT)
  • Vermont: 10/13 vs. Hartford, W, 2-0
• UMBC
  • UAlbany: 10/17 vs. UMBC, T, 1-1 (2OT)
  • Vermont: 10/2 vs. UMBC, W, 2-1
• Colgate
  • UAlbany: 10/19 at Colgate, W, 2-1
  • Vermont: 9/3 at Colgate, W, 2-0 

Saturday's America East Games

• NJIT at Binghamton, 1:00 pm
• Hartford at UMass Lowell, 2:00 pm
• UAlbany at Vermont, 2:00 pm
• New Hampshire at UMBC, 7:00 pm 

USC Regional
As the regular season begins to wind down, UAlbany has moved up two spots in the United Soccer Coaches Northeast regional poll.  In Week 8, the Great Danes rank eighth, up from seventh in Week 7, but still down from their high of fourth in Weeks 2, 3, and 5.  New Hampshire, who remains undefeated, but who has drawn their last two games, still holds the top spot in the regional rankings.   Two other America East schools, Vermont (3), and Stony Brook (9) each earned spots in the Northeast top-10.

• Week 8: 5th
• Week 7: 7th
• Week 6: 5th
• Week 5: 4th
• Week 4: 9th
• Week 3: 4th
• Week 2: 4th
• Week 1: 5th 

Rookie of the Week
Freshman Saad Faiz, a forward from Casablanca, Morocco, was named America East Rookie of the Week on October 17.  Faiz scored his first career goal for UAlbany on October 13 against UMass Lowell, sealing the 2-1 victory for the Great Danes in the 80th minute.  Faiz is UAlbany men's soccer's first America East Rookie of the Week since Hugo Guerra on October 15, 2018.
 
First Draw
In their fourth overtime game of the season, UAlbany men's soccer finally saw a game end in a draw.  Playing UMBC, the Retrievers scored early before UAlbany netted the equalizer.  Despite outshooting the Retrievers 21-9, the game went into overtime and neither team was able to score.  It was UAlbany's first draw of the season, having won each of their previous three overtime games.
 
First Timers
UAlbany's game against UMass Lowell, a 2-1 victory, featured two players scoring their first goals as Great Danes.  In the first half, in the 38th minute, Neophytos Scottis redirected a corner kick serve from Pantelis Panteli into the far side netting with his head to tie the game at one, after the River Hawks took advantage of a defensive miscue for UAlbany in the fourth minute to take an early lead.  Later, in the 81st, Saad Faiz ripped a rocket from the top corner of the box into the top netting, off a pass from Haflidi Sigurdarson, to put UAlbany up 2-1, which would prove to be the final score.
 
Team Academic
The United Soccer Coaches announced its honorees for Team Academic honors from the 2020-21 season, and the UAlbany men once again made the list.  Head coach Trevor Gorman's squad during the last school year recorded a cumulative GPA of 3.34.  To qualify for the recognition, a team needs to record a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher.
 
Game-Winner
Another tight game for the Great Danes went into overtime against Rhode Island.  UAlbany overcame their first-half scoring struggles, putting one away in the sixth minute and again in the 45th right before the break.  Rhode Island tied the game a two in the 73rd, ultimately forcing overtime.  In the 105th, Austin DaSilva, 2019 America East Striker of the Year, scored his first goal of the season to clinch the golden-goal victory for the Great Danes over the Rams.
 
Shutouts
In their first seven games to start the 2021 season, each game UAlbany played included a shutout.  In victories, UAlbany had not allowed a goal, winning four games by a score of 1-0.  And in defeats, UAlbany had not scored, falling 3-0 at St. John's, 4-0 at Hofstra, and most recently 2-0 at #9 New Hampshire.  UAlbany had not scored a goal in the first half this season, and have not scored a goal earlier than the 62nd minute, with their average goal coming in the 81st minute.  Both streaks were broken against Rhode Island, a 3-2, double-overtime victory for the Great Danes during which they scored their first goal in the sixth minute.
 
To the Wire
One game after defeating Marist in the 99th minute, and after playing Lafayette to a scoreless tie for 89 minutes, the Great Danes broke through to defeat the Leopards 1-0 with three seconds remaining in regulation.  A serve in to Austin DaSilva from midfield was redirected to Adam Aoumaich.  Aoumaich played the ball into the middle of the Lafayette box to Giuliano Lucca, whose shot tipped the Lafayette goalkeepers fingers and fell into the right side netting for the win.
 
Defensive Player of the Week
UAlbany goalkeeper Carlos Tofern was named America East Defensive Player of the Week on September 7, earning his first-ever weekly award from the conference and the team's first weekly award of the season.  Tofern recorded six saves in the Great Danes' shutout victory at Villanova.  At the time of his award, Tofern was 2-1-0 on the season with two shutouts.
 
Three-for-Three
Through UAlbany's first four games of the 2021 fall season, and three Great Dane victories, Haflidi Sigurdarson has accounted for each UAlbany goal scored.  He scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory in the season opener against Fairfield, off assists from Andrew Weiner and Giuliano Lucca, and then scored on a penalty kick to knock off Villanova.  Most recently, Sigurdarson scored the game-winner in the 99th minute to seal an overtime victory over Marist.
 
Picked Fourth
The Great Danes were picked fourth in the 2021 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  Three-time defending champion New Hampshire was picked as the unanimous favorite, ahead of Vermont and NJIT.  UAlbany edged out a pack of four teams separated by a total of five points: UAlbany (33), UMass Lowell (31), UMBC (30), and Hartford (28).
 
Familiar Foes
Due to the America East's implementation of a unique three-pod scheduling format for the 2021 spring season, UAlbany played six conference games against a total of four conference opponents (Binghamton, Hartford, UMBC, and Vermont).  This season, the Great Danes will return to their full round-robin conference slate to once again play every other team in the America East, including three-time defending champion New Hampshire, as well as the first-ever game against NJIT as a conference opponent.
 
New Look
Despite returning its top five scorers from the 2021 spring season, the fall 2021 Great Danes feature 15 new players on the roster.  The new recruits hail from a total of seven countries, including the United States, adding to the diverse background that already exists within Coach Gorman's program.
 
Finishing Strong
After starting the 2021 spring season 0-4-1, the Great Danes rallied down the stretch to win three of their final four games of the season by a total score of 8-3.  UAlbany claimed victory over both of its pod opponents, Binghamton and postseason-bound Hartford during the stretch, avenging earlier-season losses to both squads.
 
Next: UAlbany hosts Binghamton for Senior Night in their regular-season home finale on October 28.