ENOSBURG – The Hazen Union girls soccer team ran into a determined Enosburg team on their Senior Night last week, allowing a goal for the first time in five matches to fall to 9-3 on the season.
Vienna Wilde scored the only goal of the match to lead Enosburg to a spirited 1-0 home win over the Lady Cats last Friday. Wilde beat multiple Hazen defenders to score the game-winner midway through the second half, and the Lady Hornet defense made it stand up to pull the upset.
It was just the third win of the season for a Division II Enosburg team that has played the top teams in the current Division III standings tough all season long.
“The seniors really showed up for Enosburg and handed us our first shutout loss of the season. Wilde was able to dribble by our defense and score from the corner. We weren’t able to capitalize on several dead ball opportunities from fouls in the closing minutes,” said head coach Megan Mercier.
Ella Renaud recorded eight saves in the loss and Jorja Kinney turned away seven shots to preserve the third shutout of the season for the Enosburg defense.
Mercier’s club had outscored their opponents 15-0 over their past five matches. Enosburg became the first team to solve the Lady Cat offense, led by senior Isabelle Gouin who failed to find the back of the net in a match for the first time this season. The 2023 Vermont All-State selection has four hat-tricks already this fall and became Hazen’s all-time leading goal scorer last week with the 56th of her career.
Hazen remains in a dogfight to nail down one of the top five seeds in a top-heavy Division III bracket led by an 11-0 Vergennes team. The Lady Cats remain one of the few clubs to take Vergennes to the wire this fall, dropping a hard-fought 2-1 decision on the road last month. Mercier’s talented squad will have to finish off the regular season strong this week to have a chance of breaking into a top five rounded out by Stowe (9-2), Windsor (13-0), Fair Haven (9-3), and Bellows Falls (9-2).
The Lady Cats will look to get back on track with a home match against Caledonia United on Wednesday before welcoming BFA-Fairfax to town on Saturday, in what should be a very special Senior Day at Hudson Fields with an 11 a.m. start. All home games can be live streamed on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).
