This year the boys have a seasoned team including 17 returning players. Harwood has been the clear favorite in many of their matchups, and so far have come through. They’ve defeated many high level competitors, such as Division 1 South Burlington, and long-time rival Montpelier, whom they lost to in the 2022 State Championship game.
Closing the boys 13-0-1 regular season we sat down with senior Lincoln Dice.
“We have a solid and deep team, with well rounded chemistry, and everyone just gels together,” Dice said.
Dice is rounding up his third year on Varsity, and claimed: “Overall this is the best I’ve seen the team play, and our record definitely shows that.”
During the regular season the boys had many important games. As mentioned before Harwood’s rival Montpelier has always given them a good game, as the boys tied them 0-0 last season, and in 2022 lost 1-0 in both regular season and the championship game. This year Harwood came out on top, overcoming the Solons 3-1.
Harwood also found some success in Division 1, defeating South Burlington High School, whom they played in their first game of the season. South Burlington has always given the boys some trouble, even delivering Harwood’s only loss of last year’s season. Despite this the boys went up there with high hopes and delivered, shutting out the Wolves after scoring a singular goal late in the first half.
Coming off a Championship win last November over South Burlington’s Rice Memorial High School, players were confident coming into the playoffs. Varsity junior Owen Farr said: “I think we have a good chance of going all the way again, hoping we all play well.”
As the #1 ranked team, Harwood had a first round bye, meaning they skipped the first round, going straight to the quarterfinal match against Lake Region. Although the Rangers fought hard they could not overcome the dominant Highlanders, falling 9-0 to end their season, and sending Harwood off to the semifinals.
The boys have shown a little discomfort looking at their upcoming semifinal game, on Tuesday, October 29th, against Montpelier. Ranked #4 The Solons had a tough stretch to reach this game, including an intense quarterfinal against Rice Memorial, winning 3-1 with two of those goals in the last ten minutes of the match. Farr included his thoughts on the game, claiming: “Those are two of the hardest teams in the entire bracket.”
Harwood will have the comfort of home field advantage for their semifinal game, and if you’re interested in spectating, the game will take place on Tuesday, October 29th, at 3pm. This game would hypothetically move them on to the State Championship game on Friday November 1st, at 5pm under the lights at South Burlington High School Athletic Fields..
