Pios Stand Tall, But Fall To Reigning National Champions #1 Vermont

Thursday, August 21

Burlington, VT

6:00 PM

Sacred Heart

0-1-0, 0-0-0

University of Vermont

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Sacred Heart	0	0	0
Vermont	0	2	2

Photo by: Andres Trevino

8/21/2025 8:58:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Pioneers fell 2-0 in season opener

By: Nikolas Lassonde

BURLINGTON, VT. - The Sacred Heart University men's soccer team opened the 2025 season on Thursday evening at Virtue Field with a 2-0 loss against non-conference opponent, the University of Vermont.

Records:
Sacred Heart (0-1-0)
#1 Vermont (1-0-0)

Top Performers:
Danny Istambouli - 2 shots, 1 shot on goal
Sam McCann - 2 shots, 2 shots on goal
Brady Poor- 1 shot, 1 shot on goal

Between the Pipes:
SHU: Luca Marinelli (L, 0-1-0) - 2 goals-against | 1 save
VER: Niklas Herceg - 0 goals-against | 4 saves

How it Happened:
The first half saw a struggle for SHU and Vermont for the ball, with the Catamounts holding a 4-1 advantage in shot attempts. Vermont was unsuccessful in finding the back of the net against Marinelli, as the game sat scoreless after 45 minutes.

Sacred Heart had four first-half corner kicks to the Catamounts' five.

Defensively, the Pioneers kept the Catamounts and the sell-out crowd off balance as the Vermont offense was unable to get a shot on goal for the first 70+ minutes.

Sacred Heart came out of the halftime break continuing to battle with the Vermont until the 72nd minute, when a free kick set up Vermont's Nick Lockermann for a goal to the bottom-right. The Pios had opportunities of their own after they fell behind. In the 81st minute, a fast-break chance came for the Pioneers, as Brady Poor had a shot that was saved and in the 82nd minute Sam McCann had a shot that got saved again by Herceg.

Vermont found the back of the net again in the 85th minute to settle the final score at 2-0.

Of Note:

Keeper Luca Marinelli made an amazing save in the 80th minute where he had to fully extend and fly to catch the ball.
As a team, the Pioneers managed four shots on goal, leading the Catamounts 4-to-3.

Up Next:
Sacred Heart is back in action on Monday, August 25th as they travel to Stony Brook, New York, to take on the Seawolves at 6:30 P.M.