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The Vermont Catamounts are the 47th team in our 2017 schedule preview. The Catamounts went 9-8 overall in 2016, and 4-2 in America East play. Vermont fell to Hartford in the America East championship game, 17-16, after upsetting Stony Brook in the semifinals. Let’s dive into their schedule.
VERMONT
The Catamounts open up the season in South Carolina to take on Furman on February 2, which is really early. Then, they head to Georgia to take on Mercer two days later. Hopefully it’s warm down south! Their home opener is against New England rival Holy Cross on February 18. That’s their only home game for a month, as the Catamounts begin a four-game road trip on February 25 against Providence. The squad’s at Dartmouth three days later to conclude the month.
Vermont will take on Ivy League foe Harvard on March 4, followed by a trip to Connecticut to take on Sacred Heart on March 11 to conclude nonconference play. America East play opens up at home in Burlington against Albany on March 18. The Catamounts are back on the road a week later to take on Binghamton.
The Catamounts host a rematch of the America East championship game against defending league champion Hartford on April 1. They’re at UMass Lowell on April 8, before they host Stony Brook on April 15 in the home finale. Vermont wraps up the regular season in Baltimore on April 29 against UMBC.
After Ryan Curtis stepped down after last season, the Catamounts made a great hire in former North Carolina assistant Chris Feifs. Feifs comes to Burlington with all four Catamounts that earned America East honors returning, including senior midfielder and Offensive Player of the Year Ian McKay. Along with McKay are Cam Milligan, sophomores Dawes Milchling, and Jack Knight, who all received postseason honors. They do lose attackman Cameron Stafford to Virginia. Matt Gudas should get more time at midfield this year, along with Karl Weller. On defense, James Leary and Ben Cox both return after starting all of last season’s games, as well as LSMs Matt Burke and Graham Bocklett. After redshirting last season, Hayden Jenkins should be back as a defensive midfielder. Jon Caplan returns as the starting goaltender, and Luc LeBlanc will be back to take the majority of the team’s face-offs. The Catamounts will certainly be talked about as a potential bid stealer come May.
To see every team’s schedule and which one’s we’ve highlighted, check our our master schedule list.