Thanks to Maximilian Kissel, the Catamounts got it done Monday night.
Kissell scored a perfect goal in the overtime period to lead Vermont to a 2-1 victory over Marshall to officially win the 2024 Men’s College Cup and claim the program’s first national championship.
Kissell, after escaping down the right side of the field, slipped between the Marshall goalkeeper and scored a wide-open goal at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, on Monday, ending the game in the death period. sudden and caused a massive celebration in the field.
The goal was Vermont’s 16th this season in the 83rd minute or later. He was also Kissel’s sixth winner of the season. The junior from Wiesbaden, Germany, scored 11 goals this season. He scored four game-winning goals in the postseason, including one to beat Bryant in the America East final.
“It means everything,” Kissel said. “Vermont always has a small school, in the middle of nowhere, a small population, no one believes in us, no one picks us to win… They always doubt us, but we always come out on top. That’s Vermont.”
That game-winning shot was set up after Vermont tied the game with about 10 minutes left in the second half. Marcell Papp scored from the top of the box to put Vermont on the scoreboard.
Vermont allowed just three goals throughout the entire tournament, one of which came on Monday night. They beat No. 3 Denver on penalty kicks in the semifinals to reach the title game. Marshall, after beating SMU in the quarterfinals, shocked top-seeded Ohio State in the semifinals with a 1-0 victory. The Herd were seeking their second championship in the last five seasons.
With the victory, the Vermont football team is now the first team sport to win a national championship in college. The Catamounts were also the first team from the Eastern United States to reach a national championship in a team sport. The Vermont ski program has six championships.