Chargers Drop Three out of Division

by Ken Brown

RICHFORD – The gauntlet of the highly competitive Mountain League didn’t get any easier for the Craftsbury Academy (CA) boys’ soccer team last week as they dropped decisions to Richford, Winooski, and a red-hot BFA-Fairfax team.

Carter Blaney netted a hat-trick to lead Richford to a 5-1 home win over the Chargers last Monday. Dalton Raymo put the home team up 1-0 midway through the first half with a rocket outside the 18 yard line. Blaney gave Richford a two goal advantage 90 seconds later and made it 3-0 with his second goal of the match, just before halftime. Blaney completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half. CA converted a penalty kick to make it 4-1 and Carson Steinhour converted one of his own to end the scoring on the day. Oliver Pike made seven stops on the day as Richford improved to 4-3 on the season.

Emmanuel Omar found the back of the net three times and Joseph Abdallah twice to power Winooski to a 9-1 home win over CA on Wednesday. Calvin Cacciamani scored the lone goal for the Chargers and Dylan Washer made five saves in the loss. Ahmad Abdilah made one stop for the Spartans as they improved to 6-2 on the season. The perennial division III powerhouse is enjoying its new home in Division IV with their only losses of the season coming to Rice and Vergennes.

Luca Chayer, James Benjamin, and Chris Dukeshire powered the Bullet offense on Friday, leading BFA-Fairfax to a 10-1 road win over the Chargers. Following a narrow 1-0 loss to Winooski two weeks ago, the Bullets have reeled off five straight wins to improve to 7-4, emerging as a sudden contender in Division III. The loss dropped CA to 2-7 on the season.

“Roean McClellan has been out with an injury and we were missing some players in what was a tough week facing some very good programs. Evan Lamare, Dalton Gravel, and Dylan Washer played very well in our last match, with Dalton executing some very strong slide tackles on the defensive end. We are looking forward to getting back into action this week,” said head coach William Garske.

The Chargers hosted Blue Mountain on Tuesday and will welcome Danville to town on Friday for Homecoming Weekend.