Vermont soccer teams still playing
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Norwich senior defender Chris Rivet, a Great Northeast Athletic Conference First Team selection this season, will lead the Cadets into Wednesday's ECAC tournament game against Castleton State. PHOTO BY JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR |
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By TOM HALEY Rutland Herald Staff - Published: November 10, 2009
The Middlebury College women's soccer team and both the Castleton State College men's and women's soccer team have extended their seasons.
Middlebury College received an at-large bid in the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament on Monday and will host an NCAA Regional this weekend.
The Castleton teams did not make the NCAA field after losing their respective conference championship games to Husson University over the weekend, but the Spartans were selected for the eight-team ECAC tournaments when those bids were awarded Monday. The Spartan men will host Norwich on Wednesday.
North Atlantic Conference champion Husson University of Bangor, Maine, will be facing Middlebury on Saturday at 11 a.m. That will be followed by a game between Wheaton of Massachusetts and Richard Stockton of Pomona, N.J., at 1:30 p.m.
Husson is making its second trip in two weekends to Vermont. The Eagles earned their way into the NCAA event by winning at Castleton State in the NAC championship game on Sunday.
The winners of Saturday's games will clash in the Regional final in Middlebury on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tickets each day are $6 for adults and $3 for students.
Middlebury brings a 12-3-2 record into the game against 15-5 Husson.
With Norwich set to play Castleton in Wednesday's quarterfinal round, the ECAC's opening round will have a Vermont rivalry game on the heels of the Maple Sap Bucket, the football game played Saturday between the two schools.
Castleton State women's soccer coach Chris Chapdelaine will take his Spartans on the road for their ECAC quarterfinal match on Wednesday at 6 p.m. against Brandeis.
The Norwich Cadets (10-7-2) will be the No. 7 seed in the men's ECAC event. Castleton is the No. 2 seed and will get to showcase its brand new facility. The game in Spartan Stadium is slated for 4 p.m.
Norwich head coach Kyle Dezotell was thrilled at the Cadets' inclusion in this year's ECAC Tournament.
"We are excited that our season is not over," Dezotell said "Any time you can get into the postseason it means you've had a pretty good year. I'm guessing we're one of the few teams in New England that can lay claim to having made the postseason (NCAA or ECAC) five consecutive years, which shows our consistency as a top regional program."
The Spartans have been the same model of consistency under Werner, having played in a postseason game five of his six years at the helm. Three of those appearances have been in the NCAAs.
Norwich and Castleton (10-7-3) tied 1-1 during the regular season.
"The Castleton matchup is a good one," Dezotell said. "It has become a good in-state rivalry between two programs that respect each other. Also, as coaches, we like and respect each other and I'm confident that John is looking forward to the match as well."
"There was nothing to separate us after 110 minutes earlier in the season, so this gives both teams another shot and a chance to move onto the ECAC semifinal."
The Cadets will have to solve first-team All-NAC goalie Mike Anthony who had six shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.26.
Castleton's attack is led by Sean Fitzgerald with a team-high nine goals, Chris Mulholland who has six goals and 15 assists and Josh Costa with his seven goals and two assists.
The leading goal scorers for the Cadets are Jake Yaris (injured) and Bobby Begin with seven each. Chris Rivet has five goals and six assists.
The Spartans will be without standout defender Nick Bellizzi who received two yellows cards in the championship game at Husson.
"We'll have a little bit of a patchwork defense," Werner said.
If the Spartans beat Norwich and the seeds hold, Castleton would meet Plymouth State in the next round, another opponent they have played during the season. The Spartans defeated Plymouth.
"We're thrilled to be playing and it's great to receive such a high seed," Werner said. "It's nice that it's being noticed that we play a tough schedule and that we're doing things right."
The other first round matchups include No. 1 Wentworth vs. No. 8 Lesley, No. 3 Plymouth State vs. No. 6 Anna Maria and No. 4 Westfield State vs. No. 5 Daniel Webster.
The four winners will meet this weekend (Nov. 14-15) at the highest remaining seed.
The Castleton women have a tough hurdle as Brandeis is the No. 1 seed in the ECAC affair. The Judges bring a 9-6-3 record into the game and played in the University Athletic Association.
They feature Melissa Gorenkoff who has a Brandeis record 26 career assists, including eight this season.
The game promises to showcase some strong goalkeeping. Castleton freshman keeper Ericka Davis led the North Atlantic Conference with seven shutouts. Brandeis goalie Hillary Rosenzweig has a school record 21 career shutouts.
The Judges will have to contend with Castleton's Courtney Chadburn who was named the NAC Player of the Year for the second straight season. She had 24 goals and six assists for the 11-6-2 Spartans who went through the NAC with a 7-0 record to claim the regular season title, but fell 3-1 to Husson in the title game on Sunday.
This will be the first meeting between Castleton and Brandeis.
Chapdelaine only found out about the ECAC berth on Monday at 3 p.m. and was giving the Spartans the day off anyway following the hard-fought final on Sunday. They will tune up with a practice today.
"We are playing our best soccer of the year right now," Chapdelaine said.
"This shows the growth of our program. I think we are headed in the right direction."
The Spartans have only two seniors, but they are two of the top defensive players in the conference in Carisa Chadburn and Katie Hoxie.
Chapdelaine is elated his very young team has received this berth because he figures the added postseason experience is going to benefit his team greatly next year.
"And I know Carisa and Katie wanted to play another game," he said.
He knows the keeper from Brandeis will be tough to crack.
"She's a senior and she has earned this, but I think Ericka (Davis) will be right there when she is a senior.
"She is a diamond in the rough and we were lucky to get her."
The other quarterfinal games have No. 7 Lesley (15-4-1) traveling to No. 2 Keene State (14-6-2), No. 6 UMass-Boston (14-5-1) going to No. 3 University of New England (14-3) and No. 4 MCLA (14-5) hosting No. 5 Emmanuel (14-6-1).
The semifinals and finals will be played Saturday and Sunday at the homes of the higher seeds.
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