Harwood is consulting with Chip Stevens at the East Burke company Diamond Turf on the effort to revitalize the fields, Fraunfelder said. “At his suggestion, we have begun dragging the dew and resume play to break up the grass and ground to support natural irrigation,” he said. This involves going over the fields when they are wet with morning dew to move moisture into the turf for it to absorb into the soil to the roots, he explained.
Given these steps and visible signs of recent improvement, the teams began practicing on their lower playing field this week and will move ahead next week with home games as scheduled, Fraunfelder said.
The varsity girls are 2-1 in regular-season play with wins over Milton (3-2) and Lyndon (6-0) and a loss to Colchester (0-2). Their game at Middlebury last Saturday was called off due to rainstorms and a match on the schedule today against Lamoille will be moved to later in the season. Fraunfelder said he’s working to reschedule the Middlebury game as well.
The varsity boys are 1-1-1 in regular-season play against. They’ve logged a win over Colchester (2-0), a loss to Essex (0-2), and a tie against Mt. Mansfield (1-1). So far, the boys team has not missed any game dates in its schedule; they travel to Peoples Academy on Saturday for a match at 2 p.m.
Boys Varsity Coach Joe Yalicki said the early season was already geared for three away scrimmages against D-I teams at Champlain Valley Union, South Burlington and Burlington to give the team some challenging play on artificial turf and preparation for possible post-season play.
Once the regular season began, Yalicki said two games intended to be played at home were switched on short notice to the opposing teams’ fields – Mt. Mansfield and Essex. “I was thankful that both administrative teams made that happen, as I think those away fields made for a better game and were in better shape to hold up for later in the season,” he said.
The road-heavy season for soccer so far has been somewhat reminiscent of the season the Harwood basketball teams had in 2022-23 after the school gym flooded from a freak sprinkler accident and needed a complete overhaul. The basketball teams’ first home games that season took place in the playoffs. But for the soccer teams, the wait to play at home won’t be that long.
“It has been a challenging task to start the year with seven bus trips and road games and not to be able to walk out of the building and play,” Yalicki said. “But our fans have traveled well, and we feel their support no matter the location.”
Sarah Callahan is a parent of varsity soccer players and president of the Harwood Boosters organization. She said it will not only be nice for the teams to finally play at home next week, but it will be convenient for fans to head to the sidelines to cheer them on.
“Aside from parents, the teams have not had many fans at their games yet,” she said. “So please come and watch.”
