LYNDON CENTER – The Hazen Union boys’ soccer team evened their record over the weekend with their first win in the Harry Besett era on the road at Lyndon Institute.
Junior forward Damien Morrison scored a pair of goals to lead the Wildcats to an impressive 3-1 road win over Lyndon Institute on Saturday afternoon. Fellow junior Ari Jurkiewicz gave the visitors an early 1-0 advantage, burying a feed from Morgan Michaud 10 minutes into the match. Seville Murphy assisted Morrison 15 minutes later to make it 2-0 heading into the break.
“Morgan did a nice job pitting a nice diagonal ball to our left winger Ari, who took a couple dribbles in the box before executing and finishing his chance. We controlled the neutral third of pitch well, giving Damien and Seville a chance to connect 15 minutes later. Lyndon had their chances but were held scoreless in open play by three world-class saves from our keeper Grayson McNaughten, including a ball destined for the top right corner that he dove to get his fingertips to and knock onto the crossbar and over the goal,” said Besett.
Morrison struck again 16 minutes into the second half off a feed from Jurkiewicz to put the match out of reach, with Carter Johns converting a penalty kick for the Vikings late to end the scoring on the day. McNaughten, a junior from Craftsbury Academy, has been dynamic in his second season with the Wildcats, making seven saves on the day. Angel Lockward made nine stops for the Vikings in the loss, who fell to 0-2-1 on the season. Besett took over the rebuild of the young Wildcat program this fall after six successful seasons guiding the varsity girls’ program at Hazen, including their first state title appearance in over three decades in 2020. The Wildcats don’t have a single senior on the squad this season, getting their leadership from three more juniors to go along with McNaughten, Morrison, Jurkiewicz, Michaud, and Murphy. Besett rounds out his roster this season with six sophomores and four freshmen.
“After losing our season opener to Lamoille, we were looking to get back on track. We came out positively and aggressive against Lyndon and the boys saw their first win of the season. We look to continue to build on the successful possession and attack that led us to victory this coming week,” said Besett.
Hazen traveled to Division IV power Blue Mountain on Tuesday and will stay on the road for a rugged Capital League match-up with U-32 on Friday. Besett and his Wildcats will host Thetford Academy next Wednesday in their home opener.
