Local Stars Lead Mountain League Honors
Seniors who played for the Hazen Union Lady Cats this season are (left to right) Haley Smith, Sophia Augsberger, Tessa Luther, Caitlyn Davison, Sadie Skorstad and Sarah Collier.
by Ken Brown
Northeast Kingdom – Both the Hazen Union and Danville-Twinfield-Cabot (CCSU) girls’ soccer teams had multiple players earn Mountain League honors last week for their outstanding seasons on the pitch.
Seniors Caitlyn Davison and Tessa Luther earned First Team selections after guiding a young Lady Cat team to a seven-win season and their first home playoff match in three years. It was Davison’s second consecutive selection and Luther’s first, after a breakout senior campaign on the wing for head coach Harry Besett.
Taylor Thompson led a wave of talented freshmen coming up through the Hazen pipeline this past fall and her dynamic scoring and playmaking ability also earned her First Team honors.
CCSU’s Sloane Morse (Danville) and Camryn Hoffman (Twinfield-Cabot) were also First Team selections, solidifying the middle of the field for head coach Spencer Morse all season long. Morse’s playmaking ability in the midfield and Hoffman’s shutdown defense at the sweeper position, helped the Lady Bears to a late season surge that led them to the program’s first division III playoff win in their inaugural season of the cooperative between the three schools.
Senior girls who played on the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union team of Danville-Cabot-Twinfield are (from left) Camryn Hoffman, Alice McLane, Tieghan Perry and Jasmine Reason.
Rounding out the First Team selections were: Oxbow’s Natalee Spear and Tessa Cook, Paine Mountain’s Destiny Campbell and Emma Korrow, Winooski’s Jean Heintz and Moo Thay Lay Htoo, Richford’s Mikayla Chagnon, Kyrielle Deuso, and Maddie Smith, Blue Mountain’s Jordan Alley, Felicity Sulham, and Maya Christy, Enosburg’s Rory Schreindorfer and Dasie Gabree, Missisquoi’s Kerri Campbell, Alex Bourdeau, and Shanneal Unwin, and Ava Ardovino, Emma Spiller, and Paige Cargill of BFA-Fairfax.
Sophomores Bri Holbrook and Isabelle Gouin earned Second Team selections for Hazen as key starters throughout the season. Gouin led the team in scoring and Holbrook was versatile for Besett in the defensive third.
CCSU’s Leah Klark, Hazel Abetti, Alice McLane, and Jorja Washburn also earned Second Team selections for their standout seasons. Klark was spectacular in net for the Lady Bears all season long and Abetti found her scoring touch late for the Lady Bears. McLane and Washburn transitioned seamlessly from Twinfield-Cabot becoming defensive stoppers for CCSU throughout the season, with McLane’s right foot developing into a weapon in set pieces.
Hazen’s Autumn Dailey and Sadie Skorstad, along with CCSU’s Carley Mancini, Jasmine Reason, and Lauren Joncas were Mountain League Honorable Mentions.
BFA-Fairfax’s Paige Cargill was voted Player of the Year of the Mountain. League after leading the Lady Bullets to a 13-win season and a quarterfinal berth in the Division III playoffs. Blue Mountain’s Felicity Sulham and Shanneal Unwin shared Goalkeeper of the Year honors.
Harry Besett took home Coach of the Year honors after a three year rebuild at Hazen came to fruition this past fall. Besett led the Lady Cat program to the Division IV state title match in 2020 and looks poised to be a contender in the division once again with an ultra-talented core returning next season.
“It seems like every season Harry finds a way to get the most out of his players and has them playing a nice game of possession soccer. In my view, the challenges were greater this season than in the past and yet he has again put together a very good team,” as stated in his Mtn. League coaches nomination.
Vermont All-State soccer selections for both girls and boys will be officially announced later this week.
