DANVILLE – The Caledonia United boys soccer team is a week away from a perfect regular season after racing past Oxbow and gutting out a tough overtime road win against Enosburg last week.
Eli Russell and Sam McLane each scored a hat-trick last Tuesday to power Cal United to a decisive 6-0 home win over Oxbow. Kaiden Rogers, Alijah Andrews, Sean Lehoe, Connor Winn and Russell each recorded an assist in the win. Landon Welch had seven saves in the loss as the Olympians fell to 4-8. Josh Petersen turned away six shots to preserve the fifth straight shutout for the Cal United defense. McLane (22) and Russell (21) both went over the 20-goal benchmark for the season.
“Our goal is to work hard and improve every match and we’re pleased with the result today,” said head coach Peter Stratman. “The boys brought more energy in the second half after a slow start, generating 14 shots,”
Stratman’s veteran club survived a barn-burner on Thursday, relinquishing a two-goal lead twice before Judah Klarich’s burst down the sideline to produce the game-winner in overtime at Enosburg 4-3. Kaiden Rogers gave the visitors a 1-0 first half lead, finishing off with a perfect pass from Oliver Searles. Russell made it 2-0 early in the second half before Blake Teague caught Petersen off his line with a long-range free kick from nearly midfield to make it 2-1. Russell pushed Cal United’s lead back to a two-goal cushion on a penalty kick and Enosburg’s Owen Bissonette made it 3-2, beating Petersen to a loose ball at the top of the box. Sawyer Bentley would knot the match at 3-3 seconds later, setting up Klarich’s overtime heroics off a beautiful back head feed from McLane. Enosburg came into the match winning six of seven and remain in the mix at 8-4 in the current Division III standings.
“Enosburg was coming off a dramatic come from behind win over Vergennes and we knew at the outset that this match would be tough. Any lead is tenuous when you match up against them, and they capitalized when we weren’t organized in the back. It wasn’t always pretty, but I was proud of how the boys rallied. It was a good win,” said Stratman.
Twin Valley and Cal United remain atop of the Division IV standings with identical 12-0 records. The Wildcats have posted seven shutouts on the season, outscoring its opponents 74-7.
Cal United has also shutout its opponents seven times this season, outscoring them 72-8. A soccer enthusiast’s dream would have the two powerhouse programs meet on the first day of November at Rutland High School in what would be Stratman’s first trip to a state championship match. Stratman has recorded north of 165 career coaching wins, including a pair of Division IV Final Four appearances at both Cabot and Twinfield. Wins against Blue Mountain and BFA-Fairfax this week would set a program record and give Stratman and his Cal United club its first ever undefeated regular season.
Cal United traveled to Blue Mountain on Tuesday and will wrap up the regular season on Senior Night at home against the Bullets on Friday.
