by Ken Brown
MORRISVILLE – Peoples Academy (PA) blanked the Twinfield-Cabot boys’ soccer team last week to complete the sweep in the home and home series between the two teams, dropping the Trojans to 1-2 on the season.
Jaiden Baird found the back of the net twice to lead the Wolves to a 3-0 home win over Twinfield-Cabot last Tuesday. The two teams played even for the first 30 minutes of the match before Baird struck to give the home team a 1-0 advantage heading into the break.
Trojan sophomore Darshan Eddleman broke free early in the second half, taking a through ball and beating PA’s keeper Sam Stutz near side, but his shot would ricochet off the post.
“The boys played a really good match against a highly skilled team and I was happy with the defensive adjustments we made from last week. We were better at pressuring them and giving them less time to make decisions. Darshan made a great play beating their keeper and was just unlucky on the finish and it definitely could’ve changed the complexion of the match,” said head coach Peter Stratman.
The Wolves struck again midway through the second half and Baird added an insurance goal with 10 minutes left in regulation to end the scoring on the day.
Dominick Hale made one stop on the day for the Trojans in the loss. Stutz made three saves to preserve the shutout for PA, as they improved to 3-0-1.
The Wolves are a perennial power in the Capital League, winning two of the last three Division III state titles under head coach Angie Faraci. Few teams in Division IV have opened the season with the schedule the Trojans have faced and Stratman admits it has been a struggle for his team to find a rhythm with two games having to be rescheduled already. He likes the way his squad battled in their two losses to PA the past two weeks and believes they’ll be better for it by the end of the season.
“They are a powerful offensive team and I’m proud of how the guys battled and adjusted in the two matches against them. Against quality teams like that, there is always going to be a moment or two in the match where they’ll make a mistake and we have to capitalize on it. We had our chances, but just didn’t capitalize and those opportunities and those are the things we can learn from. You need to play regularly to create rhythm and cohesion both offensively and defensively and we just haven’t had enough games yet for both our veterans and young players. We’ll get another good week of practice in and get ready for another quality opponent in Enosburg,” said Stratman.
Both Danville and Winooski have had to reschedule their matches with the Trojans in back-to-back weeks. Twinfield-Cabot will hit the road against another Division III power at Enosburg on Friday.
