HARDWICK – A pair of Division II and III title contenders showed a young and depleted Hazen Union boys soccer team little mercy last week, as Stowe and Montpelier handed the Wildcats their ninth loss of the season by way of a shutout.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
After being held scoreless for the first 20 minutes of the match, defending Division III champion Stowe exploded for six first-half goals to race past the Wildcats on the road last Wednesday 10-0.
Graeme Jostrand led the Raiders with a hat trick. Luca Rovetto and Carter MacDonald recorded a brace apiece in the win. Chase Brown dominated the middle of the field for Stowe, assisting on four scores. Cody Lilly, Alistair Barrett and Leo Rovetto chipped in with a goal apiece.
Grayson McNaughten and Chayse Newell combined to make 26 stops for Hazen, while Caku Brown turned away three shots to secure the seventh shutout of the season for the Raider defense.
Stowe will begin their title defense this week in the Division III tournament, having outscored their opponents 72-12 on the season.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
“We did a good job frustrating Stowe midway through the first half despite being down three regular starters with a makeshift stalwart defense. Their keeper served a huge ball over the defense that led to the first score, and we unraveled the rest of the first half. Despite their ten seniors to our zero, the boys put forth some raw effort in the second half for a much better performance with the result of the match a forgone conclusion,” said Head Coach Harry Besett.
Winter Holloway and Nicholas Turcotte scored a goal apiece to power Montpelier to a 3-0 road win over the Wildcats on Friday. After Hazen’s defense allowed an own goal three minutes into the match, Alex Garrow fed Holloway with eight minutes left in the first half for a two-goal advantage heading into the break. Turcotte buried a feed from Clayton Foster with 15 minutes left to end the scoring on the day. McNaughten recorded 15 saves for Hazen in the loss.
“We focused on fixing mentality rather than skill heading into this tough matchup and other than the own goal we allowed, it was a much better first half performance. We stayed together defensively, they held their lines effectively, and didn’t drop in mentality when they conceded. We will be able to grow in confidence looking towards the playoffs this week in what should be a competitive local first round matchup,” said Besett.
The Solons improved to 10-3-1 and will enter the upcoming Division II tournament as the fourth seed.
The 4-10 Wildcats made the short trip to Danville on Tuesday to take on Caledonia United (Twinfield-Cabot-Danville) in the first round of the Division III playoffs.
