ADDISON COUNTY — In area field hockey action earlier this week, Mount Abraham and Otter Valley each picked up a pair of victories, and Middlebury dropped a pair of games.
Teams are in their final week of play, and the Vermont Principals’ Association will announce playoff pairings on Monday morning.
EAGLES
On Friday the 11th, the Eagles blanked visiting Colchester, 2-0, to end their tough three-game skid. Those losses all came to top Division I teams by one goal.
Txuxa Konczal sparked the Eagles by scoring and setting up Emma Fay’s strike, and Madison Gile assisted Konczal. Kira Murray posted a seven-save shutout, while Ciera Morse made 12 saves for the Lakers.
On Tuesday the Eagles rallied past host Burlington, 3-2. The Seahorses lead at the half, with Mount Abe’s only first half goal coming from Carly Rougier, with an assist from Molly Laurent. Sydney Perlee knotted the game early in the second half, and Konczal knocked in the game winner at 11:15. Murray made seven saves, and BHS goalie Jenna Peterson made 10 stops.
The 8-3-2 Eagles will close their regular season by hosting Rice on Thursday. They and OV are locked in a tight race for the second and third seeds in D-II and could meet on a neutral site in a semifinal.
OTTERS
On Saturday the Otters bolted to a 3-0 halftime lead over host Windsor and held on to prevail, 3-2. Brittney Jackson scored twice and Mackenzie McKay added one for OV, goalie Ellie Ross made five saves, Windsor goalie Lindsey Young stopped nine shots. OV hosts Rutland on Tuesday.
On Tuesday Alia Edmunds scored in each half, once on a feed from Morgan LaPorte, and OV defeated visiting Rutland, 2-0. The OV defense, led by Livia Bernhardt, allowed only one shot on Ross. Raider goalie Jessica Ebbinghausen had five saves.
The 10-2 Otters will host surging Woodstock on Thursday and Brattleboro on Saturday.
TIGERS
This past Friday visiting Essex topped the Tigers, 6-2, as Hornet Eleanor Reed scored three times. Lexi Bartlett and Maeve Hammel tallied for the Tigers. Both Essex goalie Adowyn Byrne and the Tigers’s Ileigh Aube stopped three shots.
On Tuesday host Mt. Mansfield blanked the Tigers, 3-0. Aube made 11 saves in the setback.
The 4-7-2 Tigers will close the regular season by hosting Champlain Valley on Thursday. They appear to be ticketed for a No. 7 seed and a possible quarterfinal matchup with either OV or Mount Abe.
CORRECTION: Also, due to confusion in the MUHS scorebook the identity of the player who scored the Tigers’ winning goal at Colchester early last week was misidentified. Ali Seaton scored the goal, with an assist from Bartlett.