Northeast Kingdom – Following an undefeated regular season that they rode all the way to the division IV state championship match, the Caledonia United boys’ soccer team swept the top postseason awards in the Mountain League last week.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Head coach Peter Stratman was named Mountain League Coach of the Year after a program record 16-0 season that ended with a 2-0 loss to top seeded Twin Valley in the Division IV championship. Making his first Final further cemented Stratman’s legacy as one of the top high school soccer coaches in the state. Stratman has now taken three different programs (Cabot, Twinfield-Cabot and Cal United) to the Final Four in his 18-year career, racking up 172 wins along the way. Stratman has seamlessly molded the three-school cooperative (Twinfield-Cabot-Danville) of Cal United in two seasons on the sidelines, posting an impressive 27-5-1 record.
Joining his coach with top honors was Cal United senior midfielder Eli Russell, who was named Mountain League Player of the Year. The two-time Vermont All-State selection terrorized league opponents with a program record 30 goals this past season.
Joining Russell as First Team selections were senior teammates Sam McLane, Jola Otten and Josh Petersen. McLane returned from a late season ending injury last fall in full force in 2025, scoring a career-high 26 goals. Otten rounded out a potent Cal United scoring attack that found the back of the net 90 times this past season with a personal best 14 goals. Petersen anchored a steel trap Cal United defense with 11 shutouts and dozens of saves of the spectacular variety.
Rounding out the Mountain League First Team selections were Enosburg’s Blake Teague, Bennie Wolfe, Gavin West, Sawyer Bentley and Wilder Howell, Ryker Mosehauer, Tiegen Buskey, Aiden Fuller and Garrett Wood of Vergennes, Oxbow’s Jayden Huntoon, Paine Mountain’s Zeke Aronson, Richford’s Colton Kittell and Tristan Metruk of BFA-Fairfax.
Cal United’s Alijah Andrews, Kaiden Rogers and Samson Kitonga led the way with Mountain League Second Team selections. Teammates Judah Klarich, Sean Lehoe, Evan Whitehead and Ben Monaco were honorable mentions.
