Over the years, our high school has been a stomping ground for star athletes and sports teams. This has led to our sports programs being some of the top contenders in their leagues, while maintaining good sportsmanship and strong compassion for other teams and players.
This year, our soccer teams stood out as BOTH teams made it to the state championship, playing at Maxfield Outdoor Sports Complex in Hartford on Saturday, November 4th. The girls team ended as the 2023 Division II runner-ups, and the boys as the 2023 Division II champions.
Towards the middle of the season we interviewed the boys soccer captains to get a better idea of where they were at so far during the season. “We had some tough games at the start of the season against some good D1 teams, but we would like to be a little better and we’ll try to improve on that in the coming weeks” said captain Matt Fiaschetti. The boys did just that! They rolled through the playoffs, beating the Lamoille Lancers 3-0. They had a close game during the semi-finals but pulled out a 4-3 win against Middlebury.
Going into the finals, Harwood was the heavily favored team, mainly because they were the 3rd seed playing the 9th seed. Based on the score, it would seem as if the game was evenly matched; however, the Harwood team dominated possession. The team played amazing defensively, yet they couldn’t finish the ball. With about ten seconds left in regulation, Harwood player Dylan Rogers came up left field and fired an absolute rip towards the top of the net, dropping the jaws of every fan in the stands, but missed just over the crossbar.
After the first overtime period, fans were feeling as if the game would never end, although the excitement level was high. Harwood was given a corner kick, leaving the team with a good scoring opportunity. The corner kick was a beautiful ball towards the deep end of the box, when Steele Nelson passes it over to Brycen Scharf, who taps in an amazing shot out of the air, scoring the winning goal. The crowd went crazy as Brycen and his team celebrated a hard-fought, well-earned state championship.
We also interviewed the girls soccer captains mid-season. “The start of our season was a little rough. But overall we’ve had a tie and four wins and three losses.” says Carmen Lafayette. For the second half of the season, the girls were obviously able to secure more wins, one being their 6-0 game against GMVS which kickstarted playoffs.
The girls waltzed their way through the playoffs until they were stopped by the Milton Yellow Jackets in the finals. Milton was the favored team from the get go, however Harwood was able to give them a really good run for their money, playing tough defense while putting pressure on Milton’s goalie Eleanor Scharf. Milton put in two back to back goals, stunning the Harwood team. They were able to get some momentum back and finish strong putting in one more goal towards the end. Harwood’s team played an amazing game and really showed that they wanted to win. Unfortunately, they fell short losing in regulation time 2-1.
Congratulations to all involved!
