Harwood vs. Champlain Valley Union High School
On Monday, September 24, undefeated Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU) came to play at Harwood. CVU defeated Harwood last week at their field, but CVU has always had problems playing at Harwood. CVU’s problem with the Harwood field was to continue on Monday.
When the teams took the field, it was clear that Harwood coach Don Haddox had made some lineup changes. Forward Pierre Compere came out on defense. Harwood’s defense backfield was now Compere, Sam Greshin, Seth Mason and Caleb Hoyne.
The early minutes of the game showed that CVU was not going to be able to score as easily as they had done at their field. The Harwood defense kept the CVU forwards at bay while the Harwood offense built up numerous scoring tries.
At the 29-minute mark, Harwood received a corner kick. Sam Boylan took the kick and arched the ball into the goal mouth where Winn Parker was able to get his head on the ball and put it into the goal.
The first half ended with Harwood leading 1-0.
The second half was a battle up and down the field with both teams having chances that did not result in a score. With five minutes remaining, Boylan had a hard shoot hit the cross bar and ricochet down at the goal line. Many in the crowd thought it was a goal, but the referee ruled it was not.
With four minutes remaining, Boylan shifted to defense. Harwood, now playing a strengthened defense, was able to hold off CVU for a 1-0 win. The team was overjoyed that they showed their ability to play with and beat Division 1 powers like CVU.
Harwood had seven shots on goal and CVU had eight.
Harwood will play a rescheduled game at Peoples Academy in Morrisville at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and will host the Stowe Raiders at Harwood on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Harwood vs. Montpelier High School
Last Thursday, September 20, the Montpelier boys’ soccer team visited Harwood. It was a beautiful, sunny, fall day and the two teams played a great hard-fought game.
The game started with both teams feeling each other out. Montpelier struck first at the 14-minute mark. Caleb Basa scored off a pass from TJ Dellipriscolli. Montpelier continued to pressure the Harwood defense, which was playing without Sam Greshin. Greshin was sitting out the game with an injury. Montpelier forward David Blythe had a great shot with six minutes left in the half, but it was turned away by Harwood goalie Matt Fischer.
After a flurry of Harwood shots, the first half ended with Montpelier ahead by 1.
With 21 minutes left in the game, Montpelier’s Caleb Basa passed to TJ Dellipriscolli who got the ball past Fisher to make the score 2-0.
Harwood was up against the wall and needed to respond. The response came with 13 minutes left in the game when Harwood co-captain Sam Boylan took a hard shot from a difficult angle and put the ball into the corner of the Montpelier goal.
Six minutes later Harwood struck again when Boylan made a passing shot across the goal that Win Parker was able to flick in for the second Harwood goal.
Both teams worked hard to score before the end of the game. With 40 seconds left in regulation play, Harwood’s Matt Fischer made a professional-level, diving save to put the game into overtime.
Overtime began quickly with Harwood having a corner kick one minute in, but they were not able to convert it. At the six-minute mark, a Montpelier player was fouled and received a direct free kick. Steve Koenemann took the kick for Montpelier and was able to get the ball over the Harwood defenders and through the goalie’s hands to win the game for Montpelier by a score of 3-2.
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