HARDWICK – The Hazen Union boys soccer team took the top team in the Capital League to the absolute wire last week before finishing off their regular season in style, clinching a home playoff berth with a road win over Lyndon Institute.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Charlie Isselhardt headed home the game-winner in the waning minutes to help Peoples Academy (PA) escape the upset last Tuesday with a 2-1 road win over a spirited Wildcat squad on Senior Night. Rupeni Mara opened the scoring in the first half from long distance for the Wolves before Sully Laflam smashed home the equalizer off a feed from Morgan Michaud to end the scoring heading into the break. Both teams stiffened defensively the rest of the way until a free kick was awarded to PA just outside the box with under four minutes remaining in regulation. Jackson Cleary’s initial kick was easily saved by Hazen’s Grayson McNaughten, but was deemed a no-play by officials without the prompting of a second whistle. Cleary’s second chance found the mark and Isselhardt did the rest for the game-winner. McNaughten turned away 10 shots in the loss for Hazen. Jack Peterson made six saves for the Wolves, who will enter the Division III postseason as the top team with a 13-0-1 record. Michaud returned from injury to give a much-needed boost to the Wildcat offense and was honored before the match along with fellow seniors McNaughten, Laflam, Seville Murphy, Justin Montgomery, Ethan Gann and Ari Jurkiewicz for their outstanding high school careers.
“After halftime, both teams battled back and forth. PA dominated possession and we were comfortable absorbing their pressure, forcing mistakes and counterattacking. Despite losing, we gained a lot of confidence holding a team like that off for so long, while breaking our own scoring drought. They are the top team in the Capital League, and we stayed strong against them defensively. Having Morgan back in the lineup gave us a much more dynamic offense.” said head coach Harry Besett.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Sully Laflam and Jeter Demers scored two goals apiece to power the Wildcats to a 6-2 road win over the Vikings on Friday, clinching a home playoff seed in the upcoming Division III playoffs. Jurkiewicz and Kobe Smith each found the back of the net in the win, with Laflam, Murphy and Montgomery adding two assists apiece. McNaughten and Chayse Newell combined to make 14 saves for the Wildcats. Guillermo Zavala and Tyler Schade scored for Lyndon and Cameron Bacon stopped 11 shots in the loss.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
The victory clinched the first regular season winning record for Hazen (7-6-1) since 2019.
“With a home playoff match hanging in the balance, it felt great to find good run of form early in the second half and effectively kill the game. More importantly than the excitement of meeting our preseason goal of securing a home playoff match was Lyndon’s A.D. complimenting our players for their sportsmanship and integrity throughout a competitive and emotional match,” said Besett.
Besett’s battle-tested club will be put to the fire with the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Division III state tournament. Defending Division IV champion Winooski earned the tenth seed and traveled to Hudson Fields for a first round match-up against the Wildcats on Tuesday. The winner will likely travel to second seeded Stowe on Friday in the quarterfinal round.
