Gouge and Rivard earn All-State Soccer Honors
by Ken Brown
NORTHEAST KINGDOM – Hazen’s Tyler Rivard and Twinfield-Cabot’s Meles Gouge earned Vermont Soccer Coaches Association (VSCA) All-State selections last week after their outstanding seasons on the pitch this past fall.
Gouge followed up a breakout sophomore campaign for the Trojans in 2021 with his second straight All-State selection. Gouge scored 20 goals for Twinfield-Cabot last season and was even better this year, while fighting through injuries and moving from striker to anchoring the midfield for head coach Peter Stratman. Gouge’s assist totals ticked up this season as he fed his young and up and coming teammates in Tej Stewart and Darshan Eddleman, but still managed to lead the team in goals scored. The Trojan offense scored an eye-popping 60 goals this past fall, on their way to their second consecutive 11 win season and trip to the Division IV Final Four. They will be one of the favorites next season to get Stratman to the state title match that has eluded him and possibly bring Twinfield-Cabot its first state championship in over three decades.
Rivard only played two seasons in goal for Hazen, but became one of the best in the state in a hurry. He kept the Wildcats within striking distance this past fall with countless acrobatic saves in seven one-score matches throughout the season that could have gone either way. His booming punt became a counterattack weapon throughout the season, assisting on three scores and scoring two of his own as a part-time field player. Rivard will be tough to replace next season in a high powered Capital League that features two reigning state champions (Montpelier and Peoples Academy) and six teams that combined for 81 wins on the season.
Joining Gouge and Rivard as the best boys’ soccer players in the state of Vermont were: Corbin Schreindorfer (BFA-St. Albans), Paul McGillion and Ozzie VanHendrick (Brattleboro), Joey Manley (Burlington), Jacques Alfani, Henry Bacon, and Ethan Gamelin (Colchester), Eli Marden, Diego Robinson, and Zach Spitznagle (CVU), Cooper Biederbeck and Rowan Jensen (Essex), Peter McKenna and Silas Rella-Neill (Mount Anthony), Eric Bissell, and Evan Chicoine (MMU), Eli Rosi(Rutland), Gerardo Fernandez and Jorge Trade (SJU), Hammad Ali, Andrew Chandler, Oliver Clifford, Nathaniel Hasenecz, and Evan Richardson (S. Burlington), Joey Beggs, Nolan McMahon, and Joel Roberts (Hartford), Adin Combs, Cole Hill, Adam Porterfield, and Jordan Shullenberger (Harwood), Oliver Anderson, Trey Bosworth, Owen Lawton, and Zach Wilkerson (Middlebury), Aidan Garrow (Milton), Judah Jackson (Mount Abraham), Clayton Foster, Ronnie Riby-Williams, Noah Samuelsen, and Tyler Thomas (Montpelier), Cooper Brueck (North Country), Owen Thomas (Otter Valley), Cade Bretton and Jackson Strong (Rice), Dylan Hinchliffe, Phinn Lowe, and Finn O’Donnell (U-32), Luca Chayer and Braden Mathieu (BFA-Fairfax), Danny Antillion, Silas Kane, and Landon Paulson (Enosburg), Noah Beayon (Fair Haven), Eben Mosher and Ben Munukka (Green Mtn.), Sawyer Beck, Chandler Follensbee, Rowan McClain, and Nahan Nolan (PA), TJ Guffey, Carson Matckie, Ben Nissenbaum, Woody Reichelt, and Henry Riley (Stowe), Jake Gilman (Thetford), Elijah Duprey, Oakley Francis, Shamus Rooney, and Jack Wyman (Vergennes), Declan McCullough (Woodstock), Brayden Wilkins, Cooper Jennings, Joseph McCray, and Hunter McDermott (Arlington), Parker Richardson and Trevor Stillwagon (Leland & Gray), Luca Goff and Kia Lamothe (Long Trail), Dominic Valente and Brian Pierce (MSJ), Joel Denton and Matthew Nop (Proctor), Josiah Welch (Rivendell Academy), Garrett Cunningham, Cody Magnant, and Liam Wendel (Twin Valley), Tristan Rocke (West Rutland), Hussein Abdulaziz, Janvier Mufaume, Emmanuel Omar, and Nuru Mami (Stowe).
