University of Vermont win D1 Mens Soccer Champs. Who knew people from Vermont were Good at Soccer?

2 of the 28 guys on the roster are Vermonsters

Vermont has a lot of international players on the roster. Most competitive programs in the NCAA do.

Not as many as their opponent last night, Marshall, has. Of the 28 on the roster, 24 are internationals.

herdzone.com

2024 Men's Soccer Roster - Marshall University Athletics

The official 2024 Men's Soccer Roster for the Marshall University The Herd

Link:herdzone.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster

Lots of Germans.

But lots of New Englanders too.

Eight of the men listed are grad students too (seven I think are transferred in, based on their school listings). I wonder what drew them to UVM for grad school (solely for the team or which academic program they wanted to do).

Vermonter here! Kinda wild. I watched the game at a bar last night and kept wondering if this was the "real" NCAA championships, and not something like D1-AA. I find it very hard to believe that schools like UVA/Duke/UNC/Wake, or similar, wouldn't win this title every year. Of all things, how is UVM winning an NCAA soccer title. Still cool. No idea what NIL is like at UVM.

As far as transfers, I'm sure they're here to play soccer, not necessarily academics. And all the international students, must be fun to just come to the US and play soccer. Probably not much academic concern there.

Vermont won, yes, but no players on the pitch were from Vermont. There were two subs from Vermont, but they never saw the field. Ten foreigners (5 German, 2 Canadians, an Hungarian, an Israeli and a guy from Gibraltar) and five Americans (NJ, PAx2, MA, and ME) saw time in the game for Vermont. Marshall was even more lopsided with 15 foreigners (3 from Japan, 3 Brazilians, 2 Serbs, 1 Brit, 1 German, 1 Dutchman, 1 Frenchman, 1 Moroccan, 1 Portuguese, and 1 Spaniard. 1 PA and 1 VA. No kids from Vermont.

it's about once every 4-5 years we get random. marshall won in 2020. otherwise still clemson or syracuse or somesuch. most of the time traditional powers, still.

to me it's a similar dynamic to what has "flattened" college hoops. hoops it's "one and done." soccer, a lot of the good domestic talent is signed pro age 18, here or abroad. foreign talent is a harder-to-scout crapshoot. it's getting harder to be the magnet where your school is gonna be the one sending everyone pro. so you have to do good scouting work and that to me flattens the competitive field. on that field a good coach at akron or marshall or the like can beat traditional powerhouses sometimes.

that being said, the attrition rate of teenage MLS signings is too high and i think more should go to college.

So it's a lot like any other NCAA sports roster, especially that contend for titles?

Vermont traveled 7000k miles over the month before winning. When he scored I screamed at the tv. The last time I was that excited about sports was when Boise st. beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
I hope one day someone will make a 30-30 about Vermont and the journey.

NCAA soccer is a bit like NCAA Tennis and baseball. If you are really that good, you will turn pro by 18 and skip college sports. That means NCAA soccer players are the best of the rest and are actually looking to get an education in case they are not able to have a career as a pro.

Also, the southern schools have traditionally not been interested in soccer as soccer in the south has typically played second fiddle to football and baseball. So, you do not see the big SEC schools getting behind their soccer programs in the way they go nuts over other sports.

That all means that basically any D I school can build a soccer program if they want to. There is no one school that hoovers up all the top players. Smart recruiting and solid coaching plus a bit of luck can lift just about any program into a championship in soccer. And that actually makes it more exciting because any team really has a shot if they get a solid roster of players.

It is madness how many teams are comprised of foreign athletes and grad student transfers. blatantly having an entire starting lineup comprised of both.

Lesser academic schools are the real culprits in this manipulation for titles and coaching bonuses.

This tread is about men’s soccer which went this way about 5 to 7 years ago and it’s getting worse. Distance running is sadly going the same way.

How can an 18 year old American that will require development time compete for a D1 scholarship. It’s against all odds.

This doesn’t bode well for US athletes coming out of high school and US results competing against the world, against older/stronger athletes.

Despite affluent families throwing gaudy sums at AYSO club play for a decade per kid. Don't blame those on college rosters or their coaches. The poor outcomes are a direct result from year-round travel club soccer, that's where the problem and solution both lie.

So UVa. (7 time champion), Clemson (4 time champion), UNC (2 time champion) , Duke (1986 champion) and Wake Forest (2007 Champion) are not "southern schools"?

Southern schools as in the SEC, where soccer is considered part of a godless, communist plot.

meh. re "most kids go pro," no, they didn't use to, when the salaries were minimum wage for end of roster players. there would be a handful of big signings and then the college draft.

what has changed is minimum salaries have gone up to school teacher level. you can actually move out of mom and dad's house.

what you're neglecting is, how many kids are kept around long enough, or get first team chances, where it was worth it to be pro. let's say you are signed by the houston dynamo who notoriously don't use their developmental players. it may be to a minimum deal. or they might even sign you straight to the B team for what i understand is more like $30k.

either way they ship you down to the B team in reality. the best kids off B team might get a game or two with the A team. some might get a few years on B. some might get a single season then cut. assuming you're not one of a handful of youth national team types offered starting gigs or good money, i don't see how that is necessarily an improvement over going to college, becoming a star, and getting drafted high.

i think you are right what a lot of kids do. i also watch how many wash out and my point is you'd be better off with vermont if the pros give you one year competing with adults then wash you out.

re your argument on any school has a chance, i explained how the majority of winners remain ACC type schools. it's just kind of reverted back to the 70s where some no names who recruit well can butt in. it's not UVa for years anymore.

the south and west have good soccer. we are a title IX casualty. most schools don't have men's teams (while having women's). so your choice becomes a short list of schools scattered across the divisions, or out of state.

what i get from their roster is vermont heavily recruits the NE revolution academy and germany.

in terms of my "stay in school" argument, if those NER academy kids dutifully sign their 18 year old pro deals then see what their luck is on the B team, none of this happens, and based on what i see, odds are maybe 0-1 of the 3 ever sees the first team.

marshall, to me, looks like a portal team. bunch of kids with previous d1 schools on the roster list.

the difference in terms of elite school dominance is it's no longer a UVa team with reyna and meola or a UNC team with pope and berhalter. US U20 is now a professionalized team with maybe one college kid once in a while. the best pro kids no longer do 2-4 years of college then go someplace. donovan going abroad at 18 used to be the exception. now loads of kids can sign here or abroad.

that's great for the top level talent. and they will get paid decently. that's also why it's no longer a UVa/UNC/UCLA type stranglehold.

it's a more debatable question when it's like some no-name academy kid being signed direct to the pro B team, and maybe 2 kids from that 25 man B roster ever see the first team outside of a US open cup loan. if i get 1-2 years to make it, as an 18 year old who needs to mature and improve, at a teacher's salary, because i raced to come out instead of went to college, dominated, and earned high pick status, did i help myself that much? there are so many kids who do 1-2 years MLS B team then disappear or end up in the USL minors for peanuts or scandinavia for some team you've never heard of.

to me it should be more calculated and maybe a chunk more of kids should say "no." then college fills up a little more.

the reality is even kids on US U17 or U20 don't necessarily turn out. it's all probabilities. based on the odds i see, i don't get where houston dynamo B is better odds than SMU or clemson then hitting the draft with maybe some awards and proven productivity.

I LOVED it as well. I watched the entire second half and over time.

When I saw them in the final four, I was intrigued and then randomly found the game when I was looking for Monday Night Football on ESPN.

Team had a lot of heart. Very well coached. I'd like to see a guy like that coach the big time pros.