HARDWICK – After a shorthanded loss to Hazen Union to start the week, the Caledonia United girls soccer team ended the regular season with their first win in nearly two months to improve to 4-9-1.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Junior Taylor Thompson provided all the offense last Wednesday with a hat-trick as Hazen Union powered their way to a 3-0 home win over Cal United. Head coach Spencer Morse and his hobbled club played the Lady Cats tough defensively, heading into the break down 1-0. Thompson struck again fifteen minutes into the second half before being credited with a score off an own goal to put the match away ten minutes later. Kelsie Rivard made 6 stops to record the shutout for the Lady Cats. Phoebe Crocker was stellar filling in for injured starting keeper Eliska Siebenbrunner, turning away 20 shots in the loss for Cal United.
“Cora Abetti and Lauren Pecor did an amazing job shutting down their top scorer Isabelle Gouin. We were depleted by injuries going up against a superior Hazen team and the girls played a gutsy match,” said Morse.
Peyton Winn’s second goal of the game came with two minutes left in regulation to lead Cal United to a thrilling 3-2 home win over Blue Mountain on Saturday. Junior captain Siebenbrunner returned from a broken finger to spark the Cal United offense, feeding Winn with twelve minutes left in the first half to make it 1-1 heading into the break. Anna Clough put Blue Mountain back on top 2-1 nineteen minutes into the second half before Siebenbrunner found the equalizer with her first goal of the season with eight minutes left in regulation. Winn buried a perfect feed from Alaina Robbins six minutes later to snap Cal United’s ten-match winless streak. Crocker made eight saves in the win, and Ava Kingsbury recorded 18 saves in the loss for the Lady Bucks, who fell to 3-10.
“BMU is a much-improved squad and came ready to play. I was extremely happy with our possession play tonight in a back-and-forth match that was thrilling to watch. Eliska’s return from injury made an impact for us right away, and Peyton showed some real poise with the ball in her finishes,” said Morse.
Cal United’s regular season finale heroics proved to be pivotal as it earned them a home playoff match this week in the Division IV state tournament. Morse’s young club hosted ninth-seeded Leland and Gray on Tuesday and if they advance, will travel to top seeded West Rutland on Friday in the quarter-final round.
