Throughout the Division I soccer tournament, UVM was called a “Cinderella team.” Over and over again they were called the “underdogs.” And their win was labeled by some as a “miracle.”  But Coach Rob Dow and the Catamounts never saw it that way.

“This isn’t luck, we don’t have one [lucky] year,” Dow said. “It’s something that’s been building for a decade.”

Two of the UVM championship team’s players, Karl Daly and Nash Barlow, were also a part of the 2020 BHS State High School Championship team.

Daly said that UVM has been establishing itself as a national presence and has been in the top 25 rankings for all three years he has been a player. 

“As we sort of built that strength and that presence, the community definitely realized it and [threw] their support behind us, [and] I think [that] was a huge part to our success,” Daly said. “They (the team) feel that same sort of thing that I felt growing up – the supports of Vermont.” 

Barlow said that he always knew they could win.

“I’ll tell some people, and they’ll be like ‘It’s so crazy you guys did this. Like, did you expect it?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah,’ and they won’t really believe me,” Barlow said. “Everyone [on the team] has that mindset of, we’re not underdogs, we’re totally meant to be here.”

Dow even said before the championship game that the media shouldn’t call them underdogs: “shorten that up and just call us dogs.” There was no doubt that UVM believed they could win it all. The team even built a replica of the championship trophy that they carried with them everywhere they went throughout the year. 

“We went to a film meeting in Washington [and] we’d bring that [replica trophy] – that’s early November,” Barlow said. “We bring it on the plane places. It was always around us, like building up to the National Championship.” 

Some on social media called Dow “the real-life Ted Lasso” and fans even donned Dow’s signature “Ted Lasso” mustache in his honor. Barlow said that like the fictional Ted Lasso, Dow is very good at instilling confidence and he is “really, really into pregame speeches.” 

“That’s one of his main attributes, being able to motivate guys,” Barlow said. “Sometimes they’ll say a lot. Sometimes they’ll keep it short. But for the national championship game, he kept it pretty short. He was like, ‘we’ve won five games in the tournament up to [now], it’s totally ours to win, and don’t let anyone take that from you.’” 

And win they did – in a lot of different ways: late goals in games, coming back from behind, going up early, penalty kicks, overtime wins, the overtime penalty kick win, and the “golden goal” to win it all. Dow said that their history of success was the key to staying confident when they were behind in that final game.

“We’ve hit a lot of adversity, and going down in a game is just like a little bump in the road,” Dow said. “And we just, we built a level of resiliency that was able to handle most things.”

That resilience paid off when Maximilian Kissel fired the winning shot in the NCAA men’s soccer national championship game.

“When he scored, it was such a wild emotion of sadness and excitement and pride,” Dow said. “You know, the fact that we were able to win a national championship for the program and the university and the state – [and] saying all that in one [sentence] is pretty amazing.”

Jeff Schulman is the University of Vermont Athletic Director. His son, Theodore (Tido) Schulman was a goalie for the 2020 BHS Soccer championship team (he had an error-free game despite having never played soccer before that year). Schulman said that he was exhilarated and proud when he saw the final goal being scored. 

“As a Burlington resident with three kids that have gone to BHS, it was really exciting for me to see Carl and Nash hoist the championship trophy,” Schulman said. “And to see so many Burlingtonians and BHS grads with us in North Carolina to celebrate such a special moment. Yeah, that’s super awesome.”

Schulman noted how the University has been participating in intercollegiate athletics for 150 years, but this was the first time UVM has won a national championship in a sport other than skiing.

“It’s just such a proud moment for the University and for the community and for all of Vermont… for a team like UVM to have that type of success on such a national level is amazing.“ 

Daly was captain of the State Championship Seahorse team in 2020 and said that being from Burlington made the dramatic 2-1 overtime win over Marshal “particularly special.” He also thought that there were some similarities between his high school championship (which was won in the ninth minute of the extra period) and his collegiate “golden goal” championship.

“I know it’s a whole different scale, and it’s a national thing, but I feel similar feelings,” Daly said. “It’s just kind of continuing that winning mentality and that effort and understanding – you know what it takes to get to a championship and win it.” 

Throughout the tournament, Daly kept in contact with his BHS teammates through “those old, old group chats.”

“They would text us, me and Nash, and say, ‘hey, great win. Keep it going,’” Daly said. “And when we won there [were] a bunch of texts from all those guys.” 

After his 2020 BHS championship win, Barlow transferred to Worcester Academy where he became a New England Prep School Champion and National High School Soccer Champion as well. He said that all of the time spent practicing and playing on high school and college soccer fields made this win feel like “a dream come true.”

“It’s crazy to think about,” Barlow said. “Everyone that plays soccer, we all talk about that (winning a Division 1 national championship), and it’s like, this crazy thing. And you think about it, but then we actually do it. It’s pretty surreal.” 

Barlow said it is “so cool” to see the whole state watching one thing and seeing how many people their championship affects.

“I almost cry once a day now because it’s like someone [will] come up to me and they’ll be like ‘we’re so happy! Like, we’re so proud of you guys,’” Barlow said. “That’s been the coolest thing for me – seeing how involved everyone is.”  

Daly agreed.

“Being from Vermont, the biggest sports we have here is UVM and aspiring to play for that team growing up, and then being able to do it, and then [to] do it at the highest level – it’s been very exciting,” Daly said.

Liam Hand ‘25 played goalie for the Seahorses this year. He’s excited as well. 

“It’s pretty cool that they’re graduates, [they are] guys that I’ve played with [on the] team, And I think that’s cool for the program to have graduates and former players now be national champions,” Hand said. 

Alex Dietschi ‘25 agreed.

“I think just the fact that UVM is in Burlington and that there were some kids from BHS in the team just kind of puts us on the map,” Dietschi said. 

BHS Seniors Hand, Dietschi and Ed Lyons have all already applied to UVM.

Despite losing several key players such as goalkeeper Lou Liedtka, defenders Nathan Simeon and Mioke Bleeker, midfielder Niels Hartman, and forward Yaniv Bazini, the Catamounts have a strong foundation of returning players and they have a history of recruiting and developing talent.

“The national championship has been the goal since I showed up to UVM,” Daly said. “So I can’t imagine the goal is any different next year.”