Varsity soccer, cross country and middle school soccer tourney

By Greg Hart
Sports editor

GM girls varsity 0, Leland & Gray 2

Monday, Oct. 8
Still looking for their first win, the Lady Chiefs took on the visiting Lady Rebels from Leland & Gray on Monday Oct. 8, but two fluky goals gave the Rebels a 2-0 win.
The first 10 minutes saw even play with neither team getting any quality scoring opportunities. However the Rebels started applying more consistent pressure, which led to a goal off a GM defender for a 1-0 Rebel lead.
With only minutes to go in the first half, Rebel pressure led to a deflected ball that spun through the GM box and just eluded keeper Emily Castillo for a 2-0 Leland & Gray lead at the half.
When they managed to hold the ball in the offensive end the Green Mountain offense generated a few good chances and managed to keep pressure on the Rebel’s defense for periods of time. However the Chieftain’s defense often had trouble clearing the ball and the midfield was having a hard time transitioning from defense to offense, all resulting in sustained pressure in GM’s defensive end. Cheyenne Prescott had a strong game on the GM back line limiting what would have been many more chances on Castillo.
Neither team could capitalize on the few second half scoring chances and the 2-0 score would hold up as the final.
“A lackluster first half put us in the hole 2-0. I thought we matched up well against them and played that way in the second half,but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit,” said GM coach Julie Walton.
A moment of silence was observed before the opening kickoff in memory of Shane Baker who died tragically on Sept. 29. He was junior at Leland & Gray and cousin of GM sophomore Desiree Nestor.

GM Cross Country at Springfield

Tuesday, Oct. 9
The Green Mountain cross country team ran a 5K course in North Springfield against Harford, Woodstock, Black River, Brattleboro, Windsor and Springfield. Forrest Lisle finished 9th with a time of 19:29. Logan Mott was 29th (22:45), Calvin Stowell was 38th (25:03), Kyle Cyr was 39th (26:26) and David Barrows was 44th (29:09). In the Middle School race, which was 1.5 miles, Lydia Churchill finished 5th for the girls with a time of 12:30.

“The kids seem to be improving as the season goes on,” coach Scott Renfro says. “We have the MVL Championship at MSJ on Tuesday (Oct. 16th), I’m hopeful that we’ll do well.” One other meet remains after the MVL Championship and that will be the state meet in Thetford on Oct. 27th.

GM boys varsity 1, Proctor 6

Tuesday, Oct. 9
Looking for a bit of payback after an uninspired 6-0 loss in Proctor last week, Green Mountain clashed with the Phantoms again, this time on their home turf. The result was similar but GM coach Scott Walker, while not entirely pleased, felt better about his team’s play in this game, “Proctor came on strong once again but we hung in there, kept battling, and eventually scored on a nice combination play from Chad Leonard and Cooper McCoy with ten minutes to go, so at least we kept fighting.”

GM MS girls 5, Black River 1

Tuesday, Oct. 9
The Lady Chiefs visited Ludlow to take on Black River and won by a 5-1 score. The offense was led by Hanna Veysey and Lexi White with two goals apiece and Ava Hill adding one of her own. Skylar Dailey had a great game in the defense while Izzy Cameron and Clara Martorano were strong on the outside midfield.

GM MS boys 6, Black River 2

Tuesday, Oct. 9
The Chieftains came out a bit unsure and surrendered an early goal to Black River’s Dayne Grenedier for a 1-0 BR lead. The defense in particular looked shaky giving up two consecutive breakaways, with GM goalie Brian Anderson robbing Grenedier with a great save on the first but unable to block a fine blast to his right on the second chance.
GM quickly gained its footing as minutes later winger Ian Kehoe opened the scoring for the Chiefs with a terrific left footed strike to tie the game 1-1. Mack Walton followed with a goal of his own and a 2-1 halftime lead.
It looked to be a close game as the teams traded goals to start the second half, with Ben Haseltine scoring for Green Mountain. The floodgates then opened with Kehoe, Haseltine and Walton each netting their second goals, with Walton’s coming on a penalty kick.

GM girls varsity 0, Arlington 6

Thursday, Oct. 11

GM Boys varsity 0, Leland & Gray 4

Friday, Oct. 12
The Chieftains visited Leland & Gray in Townshend on Friday trying to avenge two losses the Rebels handed them earlier this season. But they came up empty, losing 4-0. The Rebels improved their record to 9-2 while the loss dropped the Chiefs record to 3-8 on the season.

GM girls varsity 1, Mount Saint Joseph 4

Saturday, Oct. 13
The GM goal was made by Madi Huntley.

Green Mountain Middle School Tourney

Saturday, Oct. 13
GM, Twin Valley and Woodstock played one another in a round robin opening round format. The team with the best record after round robin play goes to finals against the winner of semifinal between the other two teams.

Game One: GM 1, Woodstock 1

Ben Haseltine takes on Woodstock defender as Mack Walton looks on in the first game of the tourney./ Photos by Scott Wunderle

On a frosty and frigid field the Chiefs took on Woodstock, getting a first half goal from Ben Haseltine and holding on for a 1-1 tie in the opening game of the tournament. Woodstock started off slow allowing several good chances for GM, but the Chiefs were unable to take advantage until Haseltine broke through. That seemed to wake up the Wasps with several good chances of their own thwarted by GM keeper Jon Little. The game was punctuated by the half-time ejection of a Woodstock parent for harassing the referee.

Game Two: Twin Valley 2, Woodstock 1

Twin Valley took control of what had been a back-and-forth game, and held on for the 2-1 win with some strong midfield play, great defense and solid goalkeeping.

Game Three: GM 0, Twin Valley 0

Twin Valley came out strong, had numerous good chances and dominated the ball all game but GM goalie Jon Little came to the rescue time after time, helping the Chiefs to a scoreless tie.The Wildcats repeatedly broke down the Chieftains defense with solid midfield passing and generated numerous chances, but just couldn’t get one by Little.

Semifinal Game Four: GM 1, Woodstock 0

Atight game was decided by a penalty kick awarded for an unfortunate handball in the box on a Woodstock defender. Mack Walton calmly put the pk home for the game’s only goal.

Final: GM 2, Twin Valley 2* won on penalty kicks 3-2

Twin Valley looked like the dominant team in every game they played, until the final when they came out sluggish against the Chiefs.
GM controlled the ball and managed several good chances on goal but the Wildcats keeper kept the game scoreless through the first half.
GM’s Ian Kehoe finally broke the ice with a left-footed blast from just outside the box on the right side off of a throw-in. The goal seemed to wake up Twin Valley and, within a minute, a Wildcat midfielder launched a 25- yard arcing shot in on GM keeper Jon Little. Having made numerous difficult and athletic saves all morning, Little had trouble handling the slick ball and the Wildcats pounced on the loose ball and tied the score 1-1.
Twin Valley seized the momentum and scored again on a nice combination play near the top of the box that opened up the GM defense and blasted home a goal for the 2-1 lead.

GM’s Ethan Hart with a shot on Twin Valley’s keeper.

With tired legs and time winding down, GM kept battling and generated several quality offensive possessions but it looked like the Wildcats defense and goal-tending would hold the Chiefs back. But with less than two minutes to play, Chiefs winger Ben Haseltine sent a ball crossing in from the left wing that found his opposite winger Ethan Hart on the back post. Hart handled it cleanly and slotted it past the Wildcat keeper for the tying goal.
Regulation ended tied 2-2 and the result would come down to penalty kicks. Each team sent five shooters out with GM shooting first. Alternating shots, each team had two makes, two misses and each goalie made a save necessitating another round of three shots. This time the GM shooters couldn’t solve the Wildcat keeper, who made one save in particular that was truly spectacular, and Twin Valley took the game on penalty kicks 3-2.