LAMOILLE – Head coach Harry Besett’s rebuild of the Hazen Union boys soccer program is off to a promising start in his second season after a hard-fought draw with Division II Lamoille and a resounding Homecoming Weekend win over Blue Mountain last week.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Jeter Demers scored the lone goal for the Wildcats and Grayson McNaughten was spectacular in net as Hazen earned a 1-1 road draw with the Lancers last Tuesday. Demers put the visitors up 1-0 off a well-placed ball from Kobe Smith late in the first half and the defense made it hold up heading into the break.
Less than five minutes into the second half, the game was suspended due to lightning and both teams endured a weather delay of nearly an hour. Midway through the second half, Lamoille earned a penalty kick, where the initial shot was stonewalled by McNaughten before Lucas Mercenilo cleaned up the rebound for the final score of the afternoon. McNaughten finished the match with six saves.
Ben Turner turned away five shots for the Lancers as they improved to 0-2-1.
The Wildcats waited out the weather again on Saturday and came out firing on all cylinders as their offense enjoyed one of their biggest outputs in years, blitzing Blue Mountain 8-0 on Homecoming Weekend.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Levi Higgins led the way with a pair of goals and Justin Montgomery controlled the middle of the field all day, recording a goal and two assists. Jeter Demers continued his strong start to the season with a goal, and a pair of helpers and Ari Jurkiewicz tallied a goal and an assist in the win. Lucian Jurkiewicz and Nate Hayden found the back of the net for the first time this season and Sully Laflam assisted on two scores.
McNaughten made three saves and recorded a clean sheet before taking to the field in the second half to score a goal of his own and assist on another. Chayse Newell helped preserve the shutout with a pair of stops for Hazen.
Scott Brody made 14 saves for the Bucks as they fell to 0-2.
After playing some of their best soccer late last season, Besett is optimistic with the improvements he’s seen his young team make early on this fall as they ready for the rigors of Capital League play.
“There is definitely a higher level of maturity and coachability this season. This team is starting to understand the potential that they have to play good soccer and are working very hard in practice to execute a positive style of play. We have big tests ahead for our defense this week, which will help us see how far we’ve come. Continuing to work at possessing the ball throughout matches has been the key to making things easier for ourselves defensively so far,” said Besett.
The Wildcats tackled a tough road test against North Country on Monday and are scheduled to host Lyndon Institute on Wednesday. All home games can be streamed live on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).
