WEEK 2: Fall high school playoffs
October 29, 2024 | By Lisa ScagliottiNOTE: This post will be updated through the playoffs. Click the underlined section titles for links to the playoff bracket web pages.
Fall high school sports playoffs are under way.
Below is a schedule that will be updated as games progress for Harwood Union teams with links in each title heading to the bracket pages on the Scorebooklive.com website used by the Vermont Principals Association.
Boys and Girls Soccer and Football are Division II; Volleyball is Division I; Field Hockey is in Division III.
More information about the tournaments is online at the VPA website under Athletics.
Steele Nelson goes up for a header against Lake Region. Photo by Sarah Milligan
Scenes from Friday’s quarterfinal match vs. Lake Region and Harwood’s earlier season game vs. Montpelier. Photos by Sarah Milligan. Click to enlarge.
Tuesday, Oct. 29
Harwood will host No. 4 Montpelier at 3 p.m. for the D-II semifinal round. Montpelier eliminated Rice on Friday.
Friday, Oct. 25
UPDATE: FINAL SCORE - 9-0 Harwood defeats Lake Region and moves on to the semifinals. See the Times Argus recap from Friday’s games here.
Undefeated and in first place in D-II, Harwood (13-0-1) had a bye for the first round as the team looks to defend its 2023 championship title. The Highlanders enter the tournament on Friday, Oct. 25, at home at 3 p.m. They will play No. 9 Lake Region (8-7) who got past No. 8 North Country (7-7-1) in the playdown round.
Girls Soccer
Wednesday, Oct. 30
No. 6 Harwood hosts No. 7 Mt. Abe for the Division-II semifinal round at 3 p.m. at Harwood.
Harwood’s Adleigh Franke battles for possession against GMVS. Photo by Sarah Milligan
Photos above from Saturday’s win over GMVS. Photos by Sarah Milligan. Click to enlarge.
Saturday, Oct. 26
FINAL SCORE: 1-0 Harwood defeats GMVS.
See the Times Argus girls playoff roundup (which includes a full story on the Spaulding OT win over U-32).
Photos here from Wednesday Oct. 23 win over Rice by Sarah Milligan. Click to enlarge.
UPDATE: A FAN BUS to and from GMVS will leave Harwood at 1:00 and stop at Waitsfield Telecom at 1:15. It will return at both stops after the game. Fans are asked to use the bus or carpool given limited parking at GMVS as this is the school’s parents weekend.
No. 6 Harwood (11-4) meets No. 5 GMVS (8-2) at 2 p.m. at Green Mountain Valley School in Waitsfield. GMVS beat Missisquoi in the playdown match on Wednesday. The winner will face either No. 2 North Country or No. 7 Mt. Abraham who also play Saturday at 2 p.m.
Oct. 23: Harwood eliminates Rice in playdown round at home, 3-1
According to the Times Argus, Harwood’s win on Wednesday was the first playdown loss for Rice Memorial in nine years. Roahna Chalmers scored twice with assists from Adleigh Franke; Briley Rutledge added the third goal. No. 11 Rice finishes their season 5-9-1. See the Times Argus report here.
Cross Country - State Meet at Thetford | Saturday, Oct. 26
Harwood Boys place 4th
At the Vermont State Division II Cross Country Championship meet on Saturday, Harwood boys finished 4th in a field of 13 teams; Harwood girls claimed 5th place out of eight teams.
U-32 won the boys varsity race with 48 points; Montpelier followed with 73 points; Burr & Burton took third place with 85 followed by Harwood with 114, according to results posted by the Times Argus online.
Senior Christopher Cummisky qualified for the New England Championship race in November. Photo by Robert Cummiskey
Coach Matt Migonis pointed out that the Harwood boys were seeded in fifth place, so the finish beat expectations.
“This was a very good performance for our boys varsity team. Christopher (Christo) Cummisky not only went 1:47 faster than he did last year at this race, but also qualified for the prestigious New England Championship race on November 9th in Connecticut,” Migonis said.
The top 25 runners across all three divisions qualify for the regional competition, which includes the runners from the top six teams.
Coach Migonis went down the line remarking on each of the Harwood runners’ performance: “Vince [Wing] was the second freshman in the D-2 championship race and continued his stellar first-year campaign. Indy [Metcalf] set a season-best time on a very tough course while Brody [Hackett] ran 55 seconds faster than last year at this meet on this same course. Atticus [Ellis] was a whopping 2:12 faster than his performance last year; Chapin [Rivers] was 1:33 faster and Nicky [Service] was an astounding 1:57 faster than last year.”
Overall, the day resulted in both individual and team successes. “I am so incredibly proud of all seven of these boys. They have worked so hard this season and they really deserved this today,” Migonis said.
Harwood Boys Cross Country results
8th place Christopher Cummisky 17:47
19th place Vince Wing 18:42.4
24th place Indy Metcalf 19:06
27th place Brody Hackett 19:16
39th place Atticus Ellis 19:48
42nd place Chapin Rivers 20:08
51st pace Nicky Service 21:04
See the Times Argus story on the boys D-II state championship competition here.
Girls take 5th in State Championship
In the girls varsity race, senior Celia Wing led the team with a second-place finish and also qualified for the New England Championship in November.
Senior Celia Wing qualified for the New England Championship race in November. Photo by Robert Cummiskey
“Celia ran one of, if not her best race of her career today,” Migonis said.
This is the first time Wing has qualified for the New England race as an individual athlete, Migonis added, noting that Wing’s time was 1:57 faster than at this race on the same course last year.
The girls finished 5th overall with 122 points. U-32 also took top honors in the girls D-II competition with 31 points; Burr & Burton won second place with 44 points; Middlebury followed with 100 and Montpelier’s 118 won fourth place, according to the Times Argus recap.
Migonis recapped each of the Harwood girls team members’ performances as well:
“Heidi [Haraldsen] ran over a minute faster than she did last year fighting all the way to the line in her last State Championship race,” he said of the senior. “Julia [Cisz], who has been dealing with a significant thigh injury, raced for the first time in three weeks and still bested her time from last year by 1:04. Pippa [Diller] was unfortunately hit with an illness yesterday, but still found the energy to fight and showed her lethal kick in the last 400 meters to lead three HU girls in the next four places Eireann [McDonough] beat her time from last year by an amazing 2:26, while Alex [Isham] finished strong in her first ever State XC race. Harmony [Devoe] scraped and clawed her way to the line, having to navigate through three falls during the race and a leg injury that has been bothering her all season.”
Overall, Migonis said he was pleased with the team’s showing at the final state meet. “As was the case with the boys, I cannot be happier with the effort today. The seven girls brought everything today and gave it all that they had. So proud of them, he said.
Harwood Girls Cross Country results
2nd place Celia Wing 20:51
13th place Heidi Haraldsen 22:02
31st place Julia Cisz 24:25
44th Pippa Diller 25:42
46th Eireann McDonough 25:51
47th Alex Isham 25:52
61 Harmony Devoe 27:01
See the Times Argus report on the Division II girls state championship competition here.
Boys Challenge Race
All of the other Harwood runners competed in the Boys Challenge race. There were no team scores given in this race. The results:
60th place Mateo Metcalf 21:11
62nd place Silas Gully 21:14
64th place Wyatt Ross 21:17
126th place Jan Martin 24:12
136th place Trevor Deschamps 25:14
139th place Colin Smith 25:20
143rd place Eric Whitten 26:01
158th place Willian Clark 30:17
Harwood prevailed over Stowe in double overtime followed by shootouts. The Highlanders advance to the semifinal on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Photos by Sarah Milligan. Click below to enlarge
Wednesday, Oct. 30
UPDATE: No. 6 Harwood heads to the Division III semifinal vs. No. 2 Windsor at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The location is South Burlington High School.
Oct. 24: Harwood retires Stowe after double OT and shoot-outs
In a double overtime, five round shoot-out quarterfinal game between the third-seeded Stowe Raiders and sixth-seeded Harwood Highlanders, Harwood pulled off the underdog win after out-scoring Stowe 3-2 in the final shoot-out.
In net for Highlanders, Camille Edgcomb had 11 saves and faced five defensive corners in the regular game. Harwood came out strong, scoring in the first quarter in the opening minutes when sophomore Kaylie Magee passed the ball on an offensive corner to Maisy Gendeminico. Stowe tied up the game minutes later, when Evelyn Song netted one for Raiders unassisted.
The game continued without any further goals, both teams evenly matched and sharing equal scoring opportunities. No strangers to overtime play, the Highlanders faced Stowe 7 v. 7 for back-to-back overtimes, both teams unsuccessful in their attempts.
Going into the shoot-outs, it was Alexia Cantallops first for Harwood against Lana Sibenaller in net; Sibenaller came charging past the stroke line and made contact with Cantallops, but popped back up to net one in, 1-0. Up next Stowe scored to tie it up. Zoe Gallagher scored next for Harwood after making contact with the goalie, followed by a scoreless Stowe attempt. Harwood’s Ava Reagan was stopped by Sibenaller; then Stowe added another on their attempt. With two rounds left, Kaylie Magee and Jane Schaeffer sealed the deal for the Highlanders who advance to the semi-final against No. 2 Windsor on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
“Proud is an understatement for how our coaching staff and fans feel right now with our team's effort tonight,” said Harwood Coach Katie Martin. “We knew going in this was going to be a tough game. Stowe has been one of the strongest teams in our division, and I think our game mid-season with them that resulted in a tie was one of our biggest games. Jenna has done an amazing job with that program as a whole. We practiced just yesterday going into a shoot-out — and here we are. You have 10 seconds on the clock when the refs blow the whistle to score in a shootout, and even if our team fell, or made contact with the goalie, or had a shot deflection — they all had that second attempt, and that made the difference. All of our team hustled tonight, and worked together. Camille earned game clover for her amazing work in net tonight, but Schaeffer, Magee, Alexia, Reagan, Gallagher — all stepped up tonight for something with immense pressure. I am absolutely thrilled with this team this year. I would say jazzed, but the team would just make fun of me."
Volleyball
Wednesday, Oct. 23: Final Score 3-1 Colchester. Harwood ends the season 10-5.
No. 6 Harwood (10-4) hosts No. 11 Colchester Lakers (7-7) at 6 p.m.
Football
Saturday, Oct. 26
Harwood players are part of the U-32 football program. The No. 8 U-32 Raiders (3-5) traveled to meet top-ranked Rice Memorial (7-1) at 1 p.m.
FINAL SCORE: 14-13 Rice. U-32 finishes the season 3-6.