Alpine Skiing
The Harwood Union alpine team had four top-10 finishers at the Mad River Glen slalom race on Friday, December 14.
Harwood girls came out victorious. The team is big this season with 43 skiers. Gretchen Kogut took first, Liza Jernigan was second, Kate Hall was fourth and Alanya Morelli came in 10th.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
Harwood 7, Spaulding 1
On December 12, the girls’ varsity team took on Spaulding High School on the road for a victory of 7-1.
Seniors Lilianna Ziedins and April Tousignant both scored two goals for the Highlanders. Junior Kailie French also found the back of the net twice and Amelia Nordle sealed the deal with one goal.
Harwood 5, CVU 4
Following their win over Spaulding, Harwood hosted CVU on Saturday, December 15, in what would be a close game victory.
Ziedins scored three goals and fellow teammate Hailey Brickey notched in one and the game winner goal from Kailie French on a power play at 12:33 in the third.
Head coach Mike Vasseur said that the team is playing well and having fun so far into the season.
“The girls really seem to like playing together and that is super important as we have kids from four schools,” said Vasseur.
This week the team will be working on positioning and communication as they need to stretch their positioning skills instead of chasing the puck and getting pulled out of position.
Boys’ Hockey
Harwood 5, MMU 2
Highlanders traveled to Leddy Park in Burlington this past weekend for the Burchard Tournament. In their first game against Mount Mansfield, the Highlanders were victorious as they were able to clinch a 5-2 win.
The first goal was from freshman Skylar Platt assisted by Finn O'Hara. The second goal was from O’Hara assisted by Platt and Gavin Thomsen. These were the first goals in their high school career.
With a 2-0 lead, MMU quickly came back, earning their first goal in the second to close the gap. Harwood senior Jake Wells scored in the third to give Harwood their two-goal lead assisted by Jake Cantwell and Tyson Sylvia.
In a back-and-forth game, MMU’s Patrick Burke scored again unassisted to get within a goal.
The Highlanders maintained momentum as O’Hara scored his second goal of the game assisted again by Platt. Jake Wells added another goal assisted by Reid Spaulding with 1:30 to play to seal the deal.
Head coach Shaun Morse said his team was able to pull through due to the man between the pipes.
“It was a back-and-forth game all night and the difference maker was our goalie Sean Russell. He made some great saves to keep us in it and to sustain our lead,” said Morse.
HUHS vs. BHS
In the second round of the Burchard Tournament, Harwood faced off against Burlington High School in a game that would go into a shootout.
Burlington took the lead early in the game, finding the back of the net first with a goal by Duncan MacDonald in the first period assisted by Elliot Maher.
The Highlanders’ Skylar Platt scored 0.14 second later off a pass from Reece Anderson and Gavin Thomsen to tie it up.
Into the third period, Burlington’s Elliot Maher from Colton Poulin scored to go ahead, but not for long as Finn O'Hara scored from Gavin Thomsen and Skylar Platt to tie it up five minutes later.
Heading into overtime, both teams played a strong defensive game; as overtime ticked away neither team could make a goal, sending the match into a shootout.
Harwood was able to win the shootout on a goal from Tyson Silvia and the game winner from Gavin Thomsen.
Burlington High School goalie Bradley Labombard had 26 saves and Harwood’s Liam Guyette made 49 saves in his varsity debut. Head coach Shaun Morse said that Guyette helped his team out in overdrive as Harwood struggled with penalty minutes.
Boys’ Basketball
Harwood 50, Peoples 48
Harwood traveled away to face off against Peoples Academy on Thursday, December 13, in a close game that had the Highlanders squeak out a win.
At the end of the first quarter, Harwood was leading 15-11; they kept that lead consistently throughout the game as both teams wracked in the points.
At the end of the third, Peoples had come back to tie the game 38-38. Head coach for the Highlanders, Mike Woods, said that the team communicated well to pull off the win.
“Peoples used four different defensive strategies against us and I was pleased with how well our team communicated on the floor to recognize the different defenses and then use the appropriate offensive sets,” said Woods.
Harwood’s leading scorers were seniors Andre Latulippe with 18 points; Max Hill, 11 points; Will Lapointe, seven points; and Andrew Proteau, eight points.
HUHS 56, Montpelier 49
In an overtime victory, Harwood was able to pull off a win against neighboring school Montpelier on Monday, December 17.
Harwood maintained the lead consistently throughout the game until the last quarter when it was tied up at 49.
The Highlanders took a blow early on when leading point man Andre Latulippe was injured.
“Due to an injury to Andre Latulippe early in the game, we had to adjust our lineups in-game. It provided a chance for our new players – Jasper Koliba, Ezra Samuels, Michael Fuller and Clyden Heyward – to play some important minutes and contribute to our win,” said Woods.
At halftime Woods pulled his team together and told them they could win this game if they stayed strong through the entire second half. The team accepted the challenge and was able to persevere in overtime.
Harwood’s leading scorers were Max Hill, 15 points; Charlie Zschau, 14 points; Michael Fuller, nine points; Ezra Samuels, nine points;and Andrew Proteau, eight points.
This week, as the team practices for their home opener on Thursday, December 20, against Hartford, they will continue to work on finding the open man on offense. Woods said the team will be conditioning to get back on plays and strengthen defensive plays.
