DANVILLE – The Hazen Union boys soccer team nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the postseason against highly ranked Caledonia United, showing signs of future promise for head coach Harry Besett’s young program.
Darshan Eddleman scored the game-winner with just under 12 minutes left in regulation to help Cal United stave off a first-round home upset with a 3-2-win in the first round of the Division III playoffs. The Wildcats came off the short bus trip to Danville with a ton of energy to start the match as junior Seville Murphy ripped the back of the net just 90 seconds into the match to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Freshman Omar Miksic-Knibb evened the match 14 minutes later, beating Hazen keeper Grayson McNaughten to a lofted ball into the box and finishing on an open net. Cal United ramped up the pressure on Hazen’s defense the rest of the half and took the lead for the first time with seven minutes left when Eddleman found Connor Winn streaking down the right side for the one timer.
“We came out and scored early on a well-built goal by gaining possession but struggled to keep pressure on to maintain the advantage. Caledonia took control of the match and left us frustrated with losing the momentum. We used the halftime interval to devise ways to fight back and keep pressure on their defensive third,” said head coach Harry Besett.
photo by Dorothy Hill
McNaughten kept the match close early in the second half on a couple brilliant saves off Cal United corners. The Craftsbury Academy (CA) junior keeper then set up the equalizer with a booming kick that the Cal United defense mishandled, and Damian Morrison took advantage with a rocket that beat a diving Josh Petersen with 20 minutes left in regulation. McNaughten had no chance on the game winner eight minutes later, as Sam McLane found a crashing Eddleman at the goal line for the final score of the match. Morrison got behind the defense once again with seven minutes left in regulation, but just missed the equalizer wide. Sully Laflam and Ari Jurkiewicz tallied an assist apiece for Hazen in the loss.
McNaughten finished with 14 saves on the day as the Wildcat’s season came to an end at 4-11. Petersen turned away six shots as Cal United won their eleventh game of their inaugural season as a three-school cooperative (Twinfield-Cabot-Danville). Besett navigated his young squad through a relentless Capital League schedule without a single senior on the roster in his first season guiding the program and hopes to continue to develop and refine fundamentals towards a possession style of soccer.
“We are buoyed by the perspective of all our players and eighth graders returning next season after a grueling third season in the Capital League. We are left to reflect on whether the switch from the Mountain League is paying dividends after crashing out of the first round of the playoffs for a third straight season. We are not naive to the uphill battle we face with the teams around us continuing to improve. More importantly, Hazen can end their season proud to have met their preseason goals of improving from a boot and run reputation to a more modern style of soccer. They should also hold their heads high to have also gotten away from the dark reputation gained three seasons ago from an unacceptable amount of yellow and red cards and be proud for their good sportsmanship and positive play,” said Besett.
