Kudos to the Vermont Soccer Coaches Association for making the recent four high school senior all-star games more than they had been.
The event had been pretty much a tryout, an evaluation tool for selecting the Vermont teams that will play against their New Hampshire counterparts in July.
But Sunday’s four events had a much bigger feel to it. An MVP was selected from all eight teams across the four games that were played at Norwich University’s Sabine Field.
It’s a start. It can be even bigger. VSCA Executive Director John Olmstead mentioned modeling their Green/Gold Senior Games after the North/South Senior Games that the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association stage in March.
Here are some things to consider borrowing and then tweaking from the VBCA’s day-long celebration of basketball.
— The VBCA has a Dream Dozen which is a list of the top returning players as voted on by the coaches. This way it is expanded from being more that a Senior event and attracts a wider audience. There are more players on the soccer field than on the basketball floor so how about the Fabulous Fifteen or Terrific Twenty?
It will be fun to see which teams return the most honored underclassmen, helping to get a read on the next season.
— How about the VSCA choosing an overall Player of the Year and a Player of the Year in each division? They could be honored between games, his would be a highlight and create suspense.
— The VBCA honors 1,000-point scorers at its annual March celebration of basketball. The same could be done for those on soccer’s big day in November for career 100-goal scorers.
— Talk with new VBCA Executive Director Eric Berry and past VBCA Executive Director Dave Fredrickson. You can learn from one another as you exchange thoughts. The basketball folks have been doing their celebration day a long time. Why reinvent the wheel?
— Release the rosters to the media before the game to promote the affair. It’s not easy because the turnover is quick from the season to the senior event, but football is able to do it for their North-South Game as is basketball.
Just a few thoughts on soccer’s big day.
It is not a criticism of the VSCA organization for things not done in Sunday’s event staged in horrible weather conditions. On the contrary, a huge congratulations to the soccer people for putting down the foundation for a great event that can be a wonderful addition to Vermont high school soccer.
During Sunday’s event, Fair Haven girls soccer coach and VSCA Treasurer Teri Perry was making notes of aspects of the day that needed to be added to improved.
It makes you eagerly anticipate the next one.
VERMONT FLAVOR
The NCAA Division III Field Hockey Tournament begins on Wednesday and there is a distinct Vermont flavor to the tournament.
Perennial power Middlebury College, owner of seven consecutive national championships, will not be the favorite to capture an eighth straight. They were tagged with five losses this year and needed an at-large bid to make the field after not winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship.
The 12-5 Panthers will host on Wednesday with 18-3 Westfield coming to Vermont. The are still Middlebury and can’t be counted out.
Keene State travels to Beverly. Massachusetts to tangle with 20-1 Endicott.
Endicott has South Burlington’s Sabrina Brunet and Hartford’s Madison Barwood. Brunet has contributed seven goals and an assist.
But the biggest gun in this game belongs to Keene State and it is Bellows Falls’ Grace Bazin. She leads the country in scoring with 37 goals and eight assists. Her sister Emma Bazin has added six goals and two assists.
The Owls bring a 15-6 record to Beverly.
Another Vermont connection to the tournament is Wesleyan coach Christine Kemp. She coached the Vermont State University Castleton field hockey team to a 15-5 record in 2018.
Her Cardinals are 14-4 and will host 11-9 Marywood of Scranton, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
HOOP DEBUTS
Fair Haven’s Kate Hadwen made a successful college women’s basketball debut with SUNY Cobleskill. She scored 12 points in helping the Fighting Tigers to a 60-58 victory over Elmira.
White River Valley graduate Tanner Drury made her first college start as a sophomore for Colby-Sawyer this past week against Keene State and scored 16 points. The 5-foot Drury also grabbed five rebounds.
Then, Drury poured in 12 points to help the Chargers to an 81-44 victory over Lesley.
Drury will have a bit of a homecoming on Dec. 6 when Colby-Sawyer visits Middlebury College.
