Lady Bears Hang Tough in Split Week
Ida Astick (No. 3) of the Danville-Twinfield-Cabot team rushes the ball up the field as Bri Holbrook (No. 13) of Hazen Union looks to steal during action in Danville September 27. Hazen edged by the Bears 1-0.
by Ken Brown
DANVILLE – The Danville-Twinfield-Cabot (CCSU) girls’ soccer team battled a red-hot Hazen Union team to the wire before blanking Winooski to wrap up their week, improving to 2-4 on the season.
A penalty kick was the only difference between a pair of evenly matched teams last Wednesday as Hazen edged CCSU 1-0 on the road for a key out-of-division win. Caitlyn Davison converted the penalty with just over 10 minutes left in the first half for the visitors and their stingy defense would do the rest, turning away a 10-5 Lady Bear shot advantage. Leah Klark was solid in net for CCSU, making three saves in the loss. Ella Renaud made six stops to preserve the shutout for Hazen Union, as they improved to 5-2-1 on the season.
“Hazen plays an extremely tough defensive game and this was a well-played match by both teams. I feel like we had an edge in possession time and we won the shot battle, but we came up short in the goal category. It was certainly a game that could’ve gone either way. I am super proud of the girls. We had a game plan and they stuck to it. They are improving every day and moving forward together,” said head coach Spencer Morse.
Lady Cat Mya Lumsden (center) and Jasmine Reason (right) of the Danville Bears go to head the ball on Danville’s field September 27. At left in back is Tessa Luther of Hazen Union. Hazen won 1-0.
Twinfield-Cabot’s Carley Mancini’s first goal for the newly formed CCSU team was a game-winner, as the Lady Bears outlasted a vastly improved Winooski team 1-0 on the road over the weekend. Mancini buried a feed from Sloane Morse six minutes into the match and Klark and the defense would make it stand up. Klark made five saves on the day to earn her first shutout of the season. Moo Thay Lay Htoo made four stops in the loss for the Lady Spartans as they fell to 1-4-1. Winooski has struggled the past two seasons, winning a total of three games in Division III. The Lady Spartan girls’ soccer program looks to be on the rebound this fall however, already pushing Enosburg, Paine Mountain, Hazen, Richford, and now CCSU to the brink in close losses.
“This game was a story of two halves for us. I thought we owned the first half, out-shooting them 5-2 and really carrying the tempo of play. The second half tilted back to Winooski and they had us hemmed in pretty good for the last 40 minutes of the match. We seemed to get away from our possession style of play and just worked at holding on to the win,” said Morse.
The Lady Bears welcomed Division II Missisquoi Valley to town on Tuesday and it won’t get any easier later in the week as they’re scheduled to travel to take on a 7-2 Paine Mountain team. They will stay on the road next Monday for a Mountain League match-up against Blue Mountain.
