-When the two best field hockey programs south of Route 4 - the Bellows Falls Terriers and the Hartford Hurricanes- face each other, the fans always end up witnessing a game filled with intensity and drama.
Their first meeting on Sept. 19 in White River Junction ended up in a 3-3 tie. With a rematch less than a week later, on Sept. 25 in Westminster, the stage was set for another overtime finish. This time around though, it was the Terriers that came out on top.
After 60 minutes of evenly matched play, it was BF's Veronica Moore who gave the Terriers a 1-0 victory with 8:52 left in overtime on a breakaway. Moore charged the goal cage and managed to elude the lone defender and Hartford goalie Paige Vielleux to knock in the game winner.
"In practice, we always try to work [against] our goalies and try to get past them, so that's something that V does a lot," said BF head coach Bethany Coursen after the win. "It was very nice and her being able to get the breakaway like that was good."
Statistically, BF had a slight edge in the game with seven penalty corners to Hartford's one. BF goalie Brooke Parker made three saves, while Vielleux made nine saves.
For Coursen, beating Hartford - last season's Division II state champs - was "pretty sweet," but just as satisfying was watching her team rise to the challenge of facing a high-caliber opponent twice in the space of a week.
"I think both teams played amazing," said Coursen. "I think it was such a cleaner, really great game. Last time we tied up there, but [today] just felt like both teams did a great job, just the flow of the game. It was a great game. I loved it. It was awesome, exciting, and fun."
More impressive was that the Terriers did not suffer a letdown when they traveled to Rutland on Sept. 27. BF took care of business and thrashed Rutland, 9-0, as Moore scored five goals and the Terriers stayed unbeaten with a 7-0-1 record.
Avery Dole and Emma Bazin opened the scoring for BF in the first quarter, and Moore got the first of her five goals in the second quarter. Moore opened the second half with a goal and then potted three goals in the fourth quarter.
Moore has had a pair of three-goal games this season, against Otter Valley and in BF's first meeting against Rutland, but this was her first career five-goal game. Dole and Bazin also scored in BF's fourth quarter barrage.
Football
• The BF-Hartford field hockey game wasn't the only epic contest for Terriers fans last week. The football team had a game just as epic against a rival just as tough, the Fair Haven Slaters.
In a game seen by many as a possible preview of the Division II championship game, the Terriers traveled to Fair Haven on Sept. 27 and spoiled their homecoming weekend with a 14-7 victory.
This was a game won with defense and BF's trademark running attack. The Terriers defense set up the only touchdown of the second half when Will Hallock intercepted a tipped pass from Slaters quarterback Cody Adams. Hallock started toward the end zone, but he fumbled the ball. Disaster was averted when a teammate recovered the loose ball on the Slater 25. That gave the Terriers great field position, and BF quarterback Eli Allbee would eventually score on a 2-yard run.
Up 7-0 at the start of the third quarter, BF went on a long drive capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by Carson Clark. Fair Haven broke up the shutout bid with a scoring drive late in the third quarter that ended with a 7-yard run by Max Kyhill, but could not get closer as the BF defense stood firm. Adams would get intercepted twice more in the second half, with Allbee and Patrick Connors making the thefts.
Adams passed for 166 yards, Sam Kyhill had seven receptions for 95 yards, and Max Kyhill ran for 60 yards. Clark would lead the Terriers with 84 yards of rushing.
Fair Haven and Bellows Falls are now tied atop Division II at 4-1. The Terriers have little time to savor the win, as they will play this Thursday night at Hartford.
• The Middlebury Tigers led from start to finish in a 52-0 victory over the visiting Brattleboro Bears on Sept. 27. The Tigers led 28-0 by the end of the first quarter as Middlebury scored on all four of its possessions. Middlebury then opened the second half with an 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Brady Lloyd. By the start of the fourth quarter, it was 45-0.
Brattleboro quarterback Sean Cozza completed just 13 of his 29 passes for 102 yards and two interceptions as the Bears struggled on offense. Avery Carl led the Middlebury offense with 67 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Tassilo Lusch, Alex Sperry, and Ben DeBisschop each had a rushing touchdown, Cooke Riney had a TD catch, and Tucker Morter kicked a 35-yard field goal.
The 0-5 Bears host Keene, New Hampshire, this Friday night at 7 p.m. at Natowich Field. The game kicks off Brattleboro's annual homecoming weekend.
Boys' soccer
• Twin Valley finished the week with a 7-2 record with a 2-1 overtime loss to Green Mountain in Chester on Sept. 24 and a 4-0 win over Leland & Gray on Sept. 27 in Townshend.
Andrei Solzhenitsyn scored in the second overtime to give Green Mountain a narrow victory over the Wildcats. Against Leland & Gray, there was little suspense about the outcome.
Alex Sullivan scored two goals for the Wildcats with Brayden Brown assisting on the first in the 26th minute and Tucker Magnant on the second goal in the 41st minute. In between those goals, Nico Gerding scored from Carson McHale in the 38th minute. McHale had TV's final goal, which was unassisted in the 62nd minute.
"We didn't play as well as we did against Green Mountain," Twin Valley coach Buddy Hayford said after the Leland & Gray game. "But we came away with a 4-0 win and you can't complain abut that."
• Earlier in the week, Leland & Gray dropped a 2-0 decision to the Springfield Cosmos. Cooper Palmer and Mateo Fuentes had the Cosmos' goals, both in the first half, and goalkeeper Nick Wiese needed to make only two saves to earn the shutout win. The Rebels ended their week with a 1-7-1 record.
• Brattleboro lost to Burr & Burton, 2-1, on Sept. 24 and shut out Hartford, 3-0, on Sept. 28 to finish the week at 4-3. The Bears will host Rutland in their homecoming game this Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Girls' soccer
• Rutland picked up its first win of the season with a 4-3 victory over Brattleboro at Natowich Field on Sept. 25. Ninth-grader Phoenix Woodard scored three goals for Rutland, and Annabelle Bridge also scored.
Brattleboro had a 3-1 lead at the half on a pair of goals by Reese Croutworst and another by Sadie Cheslawski. Rutland then scored three unanswered goals, two from Woodard and the other from Bridge to complete the comeback. Emma Grimes made nine saves for Rutland, while Abigail Henry had six saves for Brattleboro. The Bears, now 4-3, will host Green Mountain in the homecoming game this Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
• Poultney scored three unanswered goals to defeat Twin Valley, 3-2, on Sept. 25 at Hayford Field. The Wildcats led 2-0, but Poultney's Mazie Pavlakis and Bromley Howard scored goals late in the first half to tie the game and Pavlakis then scored the game-winner in the second half.
• Leland & Gray battled back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Springfield, 3-2, on Sept. 23. Sam Morse started the Rebels' comeback with a goal assisted by Abigail Emerson near the end of the first half. In the second half, Avery Hiner got an unassisted goal to tie the game; she then assisted on Emerson's game-winning goal. Rebels goalkeeper Annabelle Brookes recorded 17 saves in the victory.
• Bellows Falls fell to 2-6 on the season with a 6-4 loss to Rivendell on Sept. 25 and a 4-0 loss to Windsor on Sept. 27.
Field hockey
• Brattleboro and Otter Valley played to a 2-2 tie on Sept. 28 to improve the Bears' record to 1-6-1 and snap a six-game losing streak. The Bears will host Burr & Burton this Saturday at 1 p.m. in their homecoming game.
Lights for Sawyer Field
• On Sept. 18, Brattleboro Union High School got the green light from the Development Review Board to install lights for Sawyer Field, which is located next to the Windham Regional Career Center. Six 70-foot light poles will be installed to illuminate the field.
With athletic field space at a premium on the BUHS campus, putting lights on Sawyer Field is a welcome step. It will help reduce wear-and-tear on Natowich Field and Tenney Field during soccer season, and allow for night games for the field hockey and softball teams.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 4 of the fall/winter season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Sept. 26 saw Slo Movers (15-5) remain in first place with Spare Change and Number 3 (both 13-7) moving into second place, followed by Candi Men (12-8), Jerry's Team (11-9), Lucky Strikes (10-10), Rick's Picks and Wunderkind (both 9.5-10.5), Pin Heads (5-15), and Aging Teens (2-18).
Pat Bentrup had the women's high handicap game (259) and Debbie Kolpa had the high handicap series (666). Robert Rigby had the men's high handicap game (234) and Chuck Adams had the high handicap series (651). Number 3 had the high team handicap game (885) and Candi Men had the high handicap series (2,473).
Chuck Adams had the men's high scratch series (624) with games of 217, 214, and 193, while Rigby had a 619 series with games of 228 and 202. Peter Deyo had a 560 series with games of 211 and 191, Milt Sherman had a 531 series with a 206 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 522 series with a 192 game, Rick Westcott had a 511 series, and Marty Adams had a 190 game.
Carol Gloski had the women's high scratch series (479) and game (192). Bentrup and Diane Cooke each had a 185, while Kolpa rolled a 180.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at [email protected].
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.