ADDISON COUNTY — As expected, the Otter Valley and Mount Abraham union high school field hockey teams each earned top-four seeds in Division II, while Middlebury’s tie at Mount Abe in its final regular season game last week gave the Tigers enough points to nab the No. 8 seed in D-I and earn a home postseason game.
OTTERS
The Otters finished 9-2-3, losing only to D-III top seed Bellows Falls and D-I Rutland, and earned the No. 2 seed in D-II. They are set to open what should be a competitive D-II postseason — five of the eight teams have winning records — by hosting No. 7 Harwood (6-4-2) at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. OV and Harwood have not met this fall.
If the Otters advance, they will next play in a semifinal at Castleton University at 6 p.m. on Monday. Their foe will be one of two familiar foes: No. 3 Burr & Burton (8-3-2) or No. 6 Woodstock (5-7-2). OV won at Burr & Burton, 1-0, and defeated the Wasps twice, 1-0 and 3-2, the second time in overtime.
All the field hockey finals will be played at the University of Vermont on Saturday, Oct. 31, with the times to be determined. U-32 (13-1) is D-II’s top seed.
EAGLES
Mount Abe (4-6-4) earned the No. 4 seed by finishing the regular season on a 2-1-4 roll, all against D-I competition. Those results included ties against D-I’s top three seeds as well as the Tigers. The Eagles will open the playoffs by hosting No. 5 Spaulding (7-5-2) on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.; the teams did not meet this fall.
A victory on Thursday means a date vs. either No. 1 U-32 or No. 8 Springfield (5-7-2) on Monday at 3:45 p.m., in a game that will be played on South Burlington’s turf field. The Raiders are the only D-II squad the Eagles faced this fall; U-32 eked out a 1-0 win at home on Sept. 11.
TIGERS
The Tigers (4-9-1) hosted and defeated another 4-9-1 squad on Wednesday, No. 9 Mount Anthony. Tigers won, 3-0, and on Friday face top-seeded South Burlington (10-3-1) at 4:30 p.m. The Rebels topped the Tigers twice this fall, 4-3 and 4-2, but the Tigers led on the Rebels’ turf, 3-0, in the first setback.
If the Tigers win twice on Friday, they would play a semifinal on Middlebury College’s turf field on Monday at 7 p.m., with either No. 4 Mount Mansfield (9-4-1) or No. 5 Rice (12-2) likely to be on the other bench.