No. 19 UCLA Drops Sweet Sixteen Matchup at Vermont, 3-0

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The No. 19-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team saw its run in the 2022 NCAA Tournament come to an end on Saturday night, dropping a 3-0 decision in the Sweet Sixteen to No. 7-ranked Vermont at Virtue Field.

The Bruins end their season with a record of 12-7-1, having reached the Third Round of the tourney for the first time since 2014. The Catamounts (16-3-2) advance to the Elite Eight, facing the winner of Sunday’s Syracuse-Cornell matchup.

The hosts scored three goals in the second half to log the victory on Saturday, opening the scoring on a strike from Yaniv Bazini in the 56^th minute. Vermont added a second marker at 69:30, and then got a late breakaway with UCLA pressing forward to notch the game’s third goal in the 86^th.

Sophomore keeper Nate Crockford had three saves in the game for UCLA after facing 14 shots, the most the Bruins had conceded in three tournament games this year. Crockford’s best save came in the 68^th minute, as he pushed out a curler from Sebastian Gebhart

Bazini opened the scoring with a perfectly-placed shot into the upper left corner of the net from the edge of the box. UVM converted on a set piece to grab their second goal, with Yves Borie hitting a left-footed volley off a headed-out ball that snuck just inside the far post.

The Bruins had several chances to score, with arguably the best coming off a short-range shot from Nicolas Blassou in the 87^th minute that went up over the bar.