ADDISON COUNTY — In local high school soccer in the latter half of last week, the Middlebury girls and boys posted wins, the Vergennes boys earned a tie, but the Mount Abraham boys and both Otter Valley teams came up short.
The VUHS girls also hosted Mount Abe on Friday, and the local boys’ teams saw more action in the second day of the Tigers’ annual tournament; see stories.
TIGER GIRLS
The MUHS girls continued their winning ways, moving to 5-0 by edging host Stratton, 2-1. Katie Holmes gave the Tigers an early lead by scoring off a scramble in the Stratton box, but Stratton quickly equalized. Abby Lane tallied the game-winner four minutes into the second half on a cross from Andi Boe. Tiger goalies Molly Campbell (two saves) and Riley Fenster (four stops) split time, while Stratton’s Alice Merryweather racked up 18 saves.
MUHS faces a tough schedule this week: Mill River (5-1) on Monday, Division I Rice on Wednesday, and Mount Abe (4-2) on Saturday.
TIGERS TIP EAGLES
On Thursday, the MUHS boys edged Mount Abe, 2-0, in one of two games at the Tigers annual J.P. Carrera eDOC Innovations Invitational Tournament. Drew Barnicle scored both Tiger goals, on a first-half breakaway and on a 30-yard shot with two minutes left in the game, and goalie Wilder Perera worked the shutout.
The Tigers improved to 2-4 and faced Milton in Saturday’s final, while Mount Abe dropped to 2-2 and met Vergennes (see story).
VUHS BOYS
In the other half of the MUHS tournament, Vergennes and Milton battled to a 1-1 tie, and Milton advanced to the final by prevailing in penalty kicks. The game will remain a tie in the record books. Max Ratti-Bicknell, from Chris Leach, gave VUHS (0-3-1 heading into Saturday) the first-half lead, but Milton equalized after the break. Goalie Dylan Raymond made 10 saves for the Commodores, and Hunter Goodwin stopped seven for Milton.
OV GIRLS
On Thursday, host Proctor remained unbeaten by defeating the Otters, 3-0. OV put seven shots on the Proctor goal, while Gabriela Poalino andNora Enright combined on 10 saves for the 0-6 Otters.
OV BOYS
On Wednesday, visiting Proctor edged the Otters, 1-0. Proctor’s Nick Ojala found the net in a scramble 14 minutes into the second half, and teammate Reid Farley made seven saves in goal. OV goalie Colin Nicklaw stopped seven shots, while Ben Lones played well on defense and Collin Eugair created chances.
On Friday, OV dropped to 0-5-1 with a 3-1 setback at Green Mountain Union. Josh Letourneau’s goal evened the score at 1-1 for OV in the second half, but the 3-2 Chieftains scored twice in the late going, once on a penalty kick, for the win.