HARDWICK – After blasting Blue Mountain in the first round, the Hazen Union girls soccer team were upset by Richford at home last week for the second consecutive season.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Isabelle Gouin ripped the back of the net four times last Thursday to power the Lady Cats to a 6-1 first round home win over Blue Mountain in the first round of the Division IV playoffs. The junior striker has been a force for the Lady Cat offense this fall, nearly tripling her scoring output from a year ago with her 20th goal of the season.
The match was postponed 24 hours after both teams warmed up on Hudson Fields on Wednesday waiting for an officiating crew that never came. The Vermont Principals Association (VPA) issued an apology on social media to both teams after The Northern Soccer Assignor and the VPA failed to schedule officials for the match.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Sophomore Mya Lumsden buried a feed from freshman Ursa Goldenrose to give Hazen a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the match. Gouin quickly made it 3-0 with assists from Lumsden and Julia des Groseilliers before Lumsden tallied her second assist of the match to defensive back Brianna Holbrook for her first goal of the season. Lily Roy had the lone goal for the Lady Bucks as their season came to an end at 1-14. Holbrook, a junior defensive captain, has embraced her leadership role with the young Lady Cats this season and likes the direction the program is going under first year head coach Jay Terrien.
“Being a co-captain and having a new coach this season has definitely been different for me. Jay named me and Isabelle captains because he thought we showed the most leadership, but honestly everyone on this team shows leadership. All of us girls are playing for the same reason, we all want to win. Jay really focused on improving our fundamental skills this year and it showed us a whole new part of the game that was unimaginable. I think it’s one of the reasons we’ve had so much success this season. We haven’t gotten out of the first round in the last three years, so this really felt good,” said Holbrook.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
A late penalty kick proved to be the difference in what was a defensive battle, as eleventh-seeded Richford continued their Cinderella ride through the postseason with a 1-0 upset over Hazen over the weekend. Eighth-grader Keeley Long converted the game-winner with just under two minutes left in regulation to help the Lady Rockets pull off the stunner. Sophomore sensation Taylor Thompson thwarted a great scoring chance with a hard tackle just outside the box to set up a free kick for Richford with two minutes to go. Kyrielle Deuso rocketed the kick directly at the Hazen wall and a controversial hand ball was immediately called, setting up Long’s heroics. Richford fell twice to the Lady Cats in the regular season and now find themselves in the Division IV Final Four after stunning No. 6 MSJ and No. 3 Hazen in back-to-back matches. Hazen’s season ends at a respectable 9-3-4 and Holbrook sees more playoff success for her team in the future.
“Richford is an experienced playoff team, and they came out and just wanted it more than us. We came into the match maybe a little cocky after our first-round win, didn’t play our game, and Richford probably played one of their best games all season. Most of the girls on this team hadn’t won a soccer playoff game before this season and Richford came in knowing they either win or they go home. It’s a mindset we don’t have yet at Hazen in soccer, but next season we are hoping to put a banner on the wall!”, said Holbrook.
Richford will look to keep their fairy-tale season going on Wednesday when they host seventh seeded Arlington for a chance to advance to the Division IV championship.
