HARDWICK – The Hazen Union boys’ soccer team put up valiant efforts defensively against stout Capital League competition in Thetford Academy (TA) and Lamoille last week but are still looking for consistent scoring threats for their young team, as they fell to 2-4 on the season.
Hazen Union Wildcat Ari Jurkiewicz charges toward the ball during action against Tommy Amber (No. 15) of Thetford at Hazen September 18. Thetford won 1-0.
Owen Goodrich scored the eventual first half game-winner to power the Panthers to a 1-0 road win over the Wildcats last Wednesday. After a 31-minute defensive battle, Goodrich pounced on a Hazen defensive miscue for the only score of the game in the first half.
With five minutes left in the first half Hazen had its best look for the equalizer when junior Seville Murphy gathered a cross in the box, but his shot smashed off the right post. Craftsbury Academy’s (CA) Grayson McNaughten turned away 18 shots in the loss. Matthew McGovern made four saves on the day to earn the third straight shutout for the Panther defense. TA improved to 5-1 on the season and are ranked second in the current Division III standings.
“We started the match under pressure but once the boys settled, we started to find some success in possession. Coming off the U-32 loss, we worked well as a unit to shore up some defensive woes, minus the 30 seconds of poor play that led to their only score. It was a relatively even match marked by physical play and very good sportsmanship by both sides, leaving each team with something to be proud of. It was, however, frustrating to leave the pitch without making our scoring chances count,” said head coach Harry Besett.
Damian Morrison of Hazen Union stops the ball in mid-air as Thetford players Luke Miller (left) and Dempsey McGovern (right) follow the play. Second from right is Wildcat Kobe Smith. Thetford edged by Hazen 1-0.
Elijah Sullivan scored the game-winner 15 minutes into the match to lead Lamoille to a hard-fought 1-0 road win over the Wildcats on homecoming weekend. Sullivan gathered a McNaughten punch from a Lancer corner and smartly found the back of the net on a lofted shot that caught the junior goalkeeper off his line. McNaughten was stellar the rest of the way, turning away seven shots in the loss. Matthew Brosseau made two saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season. Lamoille improved to 3-3-1 on the season.
“They’re a good team with eight seniors to our none. Both teams played a similar system with Lamoille having the tactical edge, controlling the middle of the field more often than not. We saw improvement from our 4-0 defeat to them in our season opener and despite the disappointing defeat in front of our Homecoming crowd, the boys should be proud that they had another tactically sound defensive performance. We will need to continue that going forward with a difficult schedule coming up,” said Besett.
Hazen hosted Lyndon Institute at CA’s Dustan Field on Tuesday and will travel to North Country on Thursday. They welcome a red-hot Harwood squad to Hudson Fields next Monday.
