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A New Era of Catamount Legends Has Arrived
In fact, they’ve already been here for quite some time.
After UVM beat Marshall 2-1 in OT in the Division 1 National Championship Monday night, we can now add names like Dow, Bazini, Kissel, Murray, Barrett, and Herceg (I want to list the entire team) alongside names like Brennan, Sorrentine, Coppenrath, and Mopa-Njila. Names like St. Louis, Thomas, and Sharp. Legends who will forever be ingrained and cherished in this community as long as we’re alive. Monday, 12/16/24, is a “I was at _______ when Vermont won the men’s soccer national championship.” It’s a “Where were you?” moment that will be a core memory for all Vermonters forever. A story and a team that not only represented and made its city proud, but the entire state.
There were watch parties all over the state and country—bars and restaurants in Denver, CO; Dover, NH; Columbus, OH; and Boston, MA. Students and alumni packed bars in Burlington on a dreary mid-December Monday night. It’s what makes sports so unique and timeless in my mind. In a world where you can stream shows, binge-watch this, and record that, sports are singularly consumed in the moment. They’re live, unscripted, and so unpredictable. In fact, it’s often better consumed around a lot of people, where you ebb and flow with the highs and lows of a game or match. Sports lay the foundation for how an unranked team like the Catamounts can win their conference tournament and then enter the NCAA tournament needing to beat the 7th, 2nd, 3rd, and 13th-ranked teams in the country in order to win it all. This was no fluke or easy path to the final. This team entered the gauntlet and lived to tell the tale. As videos and pictures begin to surface of the scene last night, I get chills watching reaction videos from various bars and viewing parties. Pure hysteria. You simply don’t get that type of scene in any other facet of life, especially in Vermont. This, in a sense, was the equivalent of our World Cup. We simply don’t get recognized on the national level for sports other than skiing, and every year when March Madness comes around, we get the highlight of Sorrentine hitting his 3 from “the parking lot.” But other than that, we are simply never in the national spotlight. Which is why last night was the biggest sports moment in the history of our state.
I watched the game at home with my dad, fiancée, and my dog. My dad and I have always connected over watching sports together—from watching the Red Sox in 2004 beat the Yankees and win The World Series, to watching the Celtics win it all back in 2008. We were together when Vermont beat Syracuse in March Madness in 2005. In fact, one of the first memories I have at a live sporting event was when I was maybe 8 years old at a UVM hockey game at Yale, back when UVM was in the ECAC. We were picked to go down on the ice at intermission to participate in a contest. It was me and my dad vs. another kid and his dad from Yale. We took ’em to the cleaners and won whatever gift basket they were giving away that night. It was so cool. But that’s besides the point. Over the weekend, we made plans to watch the game together. He came over, we watched all of the pregame hype videos that Vermont Athletics was producing, and then turned the game on. Over the course of the evening, we anxiously watched as moments in soccer matches can lull you to sleep and then strike like lightning when you least expect it. And just like that, as time wound down in regulation, our equalizing goal sent us into a frenzy, as did countless other households and watch-party sites. And then in overtime, once Maximilian Kissel broke free and had a 1-on-1 with Marshall’s keeper, we stood up, holding in our breath as not to disrupt the moment about to unfold in Cary, NC. A composed touch by Kissel gave him an angle to beat the keeper with his left foot, and history was made. From all of the content I’m seeing online, it seems as though we all had similar reactions. We jumped up and down and then put our hands on our heads with our mouths agape. It’s the universal reaction for being elated, stunned, and in disbelief. Vermont as National Champions wasn’t quite registering in my brain, and it took a couple of minutes to really sink in. It’s a memory I get to add to the many moments my dad and I have shared together. It’s something I will cherish forever. That is the magic of sports and why I love it so much. And I know there are thousands of stories just like that one from last night that countless other people shared in the moment. Just the best.
Today, I find myself reflecting on this Vermont team—what they stand for and how they’ll be remembered. What can we learn from them? What they did was nothing short of miraculous. Not underdogs, just dogs. I think about Coach Rob Dow, who surely doesn’t remember me from my time working at UVM, but someone I remember well as he took over as head coach during my last year in the athletic department. That was roughly 8 years ago. Since that time, I moved to Denver, worked multiple jobs, struggled to find my footing in anything, and then ultimately moved back home after COVID, where I began my career in real estate here in Burlington. All in that time frame, Coach Dow was building a program, a culture, and a belief that they could actually become National Champions if they stayed the course. It wasn’t a process that was put in the microwave or the easy-bake oven. There was some heartache in there. I’m sure some moments of doubt and questioning. But look at them now—National Champs. What I think we can all take away from this, or at least my takeaway, is this: If you had told Coach Dow 8 years ago that he would win a National Championship, would he have believed it? Perhaps, I don’t know the answer, and I would love to hear an answer to that question. But I think what he would tell you is that nothing can replace the work on the road to whatever success is to you. Very rarely are there shortcuts to the top. It’s a road often met with setbacks, triumph, self-evaluation, and tough decisions. Where will I be in 8 years? I have no clue. With some hard work and always striving to be better than I was the day before, hopefully, I’ll find myself in a position I wouldn’t have believed had you told me today. We’ll see.
But I’m more hopeful today than I was yesterday, thanks in part to the 2024 University of Vermont Men’s Soccer team.
