July 29, 2011
Champlain Valley captures Vermont title
by Phillip Shore/
The saying goes that being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
In 2011, a couple of Vermont boys’ high school lacrosse teams experienced just how true that statement is.
Both the Division 1 and Div. 2 championship games on the boys’ side were decided by a single goal, one match even needing overtime to settle the dispute over who was the state’s team. And both victors tasted victory after being runners-up in 2010.
For the fifth consecutive year, Essex Junction played for the Div. 1 state title; for the fourth time in those five years, it faced rival Champlain Valley Union. Essex’ Hornets won all three of those championship games; in regular-season play this year, the Hornets were the only team to defeat CVU’s Redhawks.
In the 2011 championship game, it looked like the demons haunting Champlain Valley Union were rising again. The Redhawks blew a 4-1 halftime lead and were down 7-6 with a minute remaining in the game.
Their luck changed, however, when Bridgton Academy-bound senior Lawrence Dee scored with 40 seconds to go to force overtime.
It took some time, but Jeff Palmer’s golden goal with about two minutes left to play in the extra period gave CVU its first championship since 2006.
Champlain Valley Union will take all the headlines for this season, but one surprise team jumped into the fray in Div. 1. Brattleboro Union, which finished 6-11 in 2010, improved to 13-5 this year, and reached the state semifinals before losing to the Hornets, 10-5. The Colonels began the season with a nine-game winning streak, including two overtime victories over above-.500 teams Rutland and Mount Anthony Union.
The fourth semifinalist was Woodstock Union (13-6).
Rice took a similar path as Champlain Valley Union en route to the Div. 2 championship. Much like the Redhawks, the Green Knights finished 2010 with a loss in the championship game only to bounce back this season and finish with an 18-1 record.
After losing to CVU in the second game of the season, the Green Knights won 17 games in a row, scored double digits in all of those games, averaged 15.5 goals per game, and had an average margin of victory of 11.3 goals per game.
Rice faced Green Mountain Valley in the championship game and things would not be so easy. Again like the Redhawks, the Green Knights were down by three at halftime, trailing 5-2. The Knights bounced back though, took a 9-8 lead into the fourth quarter and held on for the 10-9 win, the school’s second championship ever and first since 2005.
Rice should enjoy its championship victory while it lasts, because the squad graduates an incredible 19 seniors this year.
Green Mountain (10-2) was playing in its first final and making only its third playoff appearance in school history.
Lamoille Union was the hard-luck semifinalist. The Lancers had faced Rice and Green Mountain in the regular season, losing to Rice, 13-7, but beating Green Mountain, 9-8. Of course, they drew the Green Knights in the semis, losing to them again by a score of 14-9.
Burr & Burton Academy, which had won three of four state titles from 2006-09, fell in the semifinals for the second consecutive year, losing to Green Mountain, 10-7.
In Vermont girls’ lacrosse, the championship games weren’t as close, but new champions were crowned.
Three different teams had won the state title since South Burlington last wore the crown in 2007, but the Rebels (15-2) came out on top this season. They faced Middlebury (13-3) in the championship game, the team that won the 2008 title and knocked them out of the playoffs in the semifinals last year.
The two teams met this year in the season opener with Middlebury winning an 8-7, overtime thriller, meaning the Rebels ended the previous season and started the new one with consecutive losses to the Tigers.
That streak changed in the title game, as South Burlington’s Allie Flaherty scored two of her four goals in a 20-second span late in the fourth quarter to give her team an 11-10 lead it never relinquished, closing it out by a final of 12-10.
Rutland (14-4), the 2009 champ, also lost in the playoffs to South Burlington, dropping a 17-12 semifinal. Middlebury beat Mount Mansfield Union (12-4) in the other semifinal game, 15-10. Last year’s champion, Mount Anthony Union, finished with a record of 9-7.
In Div. 2, for the first time since 2006 the championship game was not played between bitter rivals Chelsea and Burr & Burton Academy. The Bulldogs finished the season a disappointing 11-7 and were bounced in the semifinals by Oxbow Union, opening the door for Chelsea to win it all.
The only game the Red Devils lost all season was to Div. 1 semifinalist Mount Mansfield. They were 14-0 in their conference and, according to the LaxPower polls, ranked third in all of Vermont girls’ lacrosse, first in Div. 2. They scored in double figures in all 16 of their games, scoring 15 or more goals in 12 of those games. Only four times did they allow 10 or more goals.
Oxbow (16-2), playing in its first championship game since starting its lacrosse program in 2008, ran out to a 4-2 lead in the first six minutes, but the seasoned Red Devils took back control, taking a 10-7 lead at the break and closing out the game with a 16-10 victory, their fourth championship since 2002 and second in the past three years.
BFA-St. Albans (10-6) was the fourth Div. 2 semifinalist.
This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of New England Lacrosse Journal.
Phillip Shore can be reached at feedback@laxjournal.com
