Burlington, Vt. - The Stony Brook men's soccer team (5-2-2, 0-0 AE) opens conference play with a road match at defending champion Vermont (8-2-1, 0-0 AE)  on Saturday, Oct. 1, at 7 pm.

Scouting Vermont - Live Video

The Catamounts have picked up where they left off in 2015 in their quest for consecutive America East titles. Led by forwards Brian Wright and Bernard Yeboah, the Catamounts are off to an 8-2-1 start. Yeboah is tied for the conference lead in goals and tied-for-fourth in the country with nine. He is also tied for the conference lead in points with Wright, who has six goals and nation-leading assists. Midfielder Stefan Lamanna is also dangerous going forward with three goals and an assist.

Vermont is outscoring its opponents 25-13 and is 4-1-1 at home. The Catamounts average 2.27 goals per game, the best mark in the country and 12th best percentage in the nation. The Seawolves can expect to go into a hostile environment as Vermont's attendance topped 1,800 in its last weekend home match vs. Dartmouth. The Catamounts and Seawolves played to a 1-1 draw in 2015.

America Beast

With the start of America East play on the horizon, the Seawolves can expect a difficult test in every match from here on out. The eight-member conference is a combined 43-14-7 (.710), the second-highest winning percentage among all conferences, trailing only the ACC. Five teams (UMass Lowell (25), Albany (36), Vermont (38), New Hampshire (45) and UMBC (46)) have RPI's in the top 50, joining the ACC as the only conference with five members. The conference's RPI (4) trails only the ACC, Big East and Pac 12 amongst the 24 Division I conference's that sponsor men's soccer.

Consistent Scoring

Stony Brook has scored at least one goal in six consecutive and eight of nine total matches this season. They have five different goal scorers. Senior Eduardo Valle (Miami, Fla.) is in top form with three goals in his last four games.