DANVILLE – After a hot start to the season, a young Caledonia United girls soccer team experienced some growing pains against a tough Burke Mountain Academy and Winooski team last week before salvaging a draw against Missisquoi Valley Union.
Ellen Azfelius scored all three goals to power her Burke Mountain Academy (BMA) team to a 3-1 road win over Cal United last Monday. After Azfelius gave the Lady Bears a 1-0 advantage just four minutes into the match, Cora Abetti buried a penalty kick midway through the half for the equalizer. Azfelius put the match away midway through the second half with a pair of unassisted goals just three minutes apart. Eliska Siebenbrunner made 11 saves in the loss for Cal United. Sophie Podvinski made six stops for BMA as they improved to 3-1.
“Eliska made all of the saves that she was supposed to make, some very difficult. The hat-trick by Azfelius was very impressive long-range shots that were placed extremely well. We were working our possession game pretty well early on, but we got away from it and BMA going after 50/50 balls harder than us cost us dearly,” said head coach Spencer Morse.
Lillianna Fournier scored unassisted with three minutes left in regulation to help Missisquoi escape with a 1-1 draw on the road against a stingy Cal United defense on Wednesday. Sarah Austin buried a header cross from Chloe North after a perfect throw-in down the line that Cora Abetti corralled ten minutes into the second half to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Siebenbrunner (22 saves) was spectacular once again for Cal United, but Fournier’s blast from 23 yards out found the upper left corner for the improbable equalizer. Leah Thompson turned away 12 shots for the Lady Thunderbirds as they improved to 2-3-1.
“I was extremely happy with our effort throughout the lineup and the times we broke down defensively, Eliska really picked us up with a handful of fantastic saves. The score that Cora and Chloe created that Sarah finished with a great crash to the goal was just beautiful,” said Morse.
Winooski used a balanced attack to stay red hot on Friday, blanking Cal United 4-0 at home. Jenny Paw, Mapeni Selemani, Prisca Niyogushmna, and Djoyce Mampuya scored a goal in each half as the Lady Spartans improved to 6-1. It was the fourth shutout of the season for the Winooski defense. Winooski has outscored their opponents 24-5 on the season, with their only loss coming at the hands of Hazen two weeks ago.
Cal United evened their record at 3-3-1 and welcomed Hazen to town on Monday. They’ll stay between the Hedges at Danville on Thursday for a Mountain League match-up against Blue Mountain before traveling to Vergennes next Monday.
