Meriden
First, the Yellowjackets are young and inexperienced. They will start 10 freshmen and a sophomore in their VPA Division III semifinal match against No. 4 Stowe, a game that, for many, will be their first postseason experience on varsity turf.
What’s more, Windsor entered the fall with the daunting task of bringing its program back to life after a two-year hiatus due to lack of participation, a fact that curbed expectations. Windsor head coach Jody Wood said she hoped the team to hover around .500 as it settled back into varsity play; experienced sophomore Angelina Bigwood expected the same.
Instead, the Yellowjackets took those excuses and used them as fuel. They entered the postseason as the top seed in D-III with an 8-3-1 record and a bye in the quarterfinals.
“At the beginning of the year, the expectation was we have a young team, we’re going to work on skills,” the Windsor coach said after a late afternoon practice on Monday at Kimball Union Academy’s Pope Field. “A .500 season would have been very positive. Then we ended up No. 1. It’s crazy. … They put in the time and the effort.
“This team has potential; that is definitely apparent,” Wood added. “But to be this successful their first year? I think that that’s amazing.”
Today’s semifinal game, originally scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at South Burlington High, was postponed to Wednesday due to a power outage that cancelled school at Stowe on Monday and will keep the school closed today. The game’s time and location, Wood said, would be decided this morning.
Bigwood is Windsor’s leading scorer with 18 goals and one assist in 12 games and entered the postseason with team’s most experience following her stint with D-II champion Springfield as a freshman last fall. She is unavailable for the playoffs, however, following a cross-checking incident in Windsor’s regular-season finale against Otter Valley, a 3-3 tie in which Bigwood drew a red card and a two-game suspension.
“It sucks. It’s disappointing,” she said. “For now, I’m just doing what I can to help the team.”
Added Wood: “We tried to appeal it. … It was a heat-of-the-moment thing. I think it’ll be a learning experience for her.”
Bigwood said the Yellowjackets came into the season with chemistry, which has helped them quickly find success.
“We’ve all played with each other from about third or fourth grade,” she said. “We all know each other’s strengths … that clicked, anyway. But we’re all also athletic. We all have this competitive drive. That really helps because I don’t know if anyone expected us to get a bye to go to the semis already.”
Windsor will play its semifinal match with 11 athletes — no substitutes — and two goalies against Stowe: Hayley Fortin, a promising sophomore defender, is also out with a knee injury. Wood said her team will rely heavily on freshmen Hannah Wood (six goals, 14 assists) and Alyssa Slocum (two goals, six assists) to pick up the offensive slack.
“I think we just want to prove to everyone that, just because we are so young, we can still do it,” Slocum said. “Just don’t underestimate us.”
Windsor’s squad has taken D-III by storm, outscoring opponents 35-25 in 12 regular season games. Its three losses were to D-II opponents, Otter Valley and Bellows Falls. The Yellowjackets did not face Stowe — which has been to three D-III finals in the last four years — this season and enter the semis having not played a game in 11 days. A trip to the final, scheduled for Saturday at the University of Vermont, would be Windsor’s first since winning a state title in 2009 in D-II.
“I always knew we had it in us,” said the freshman Wood. “We’ve been playing for a long time together. … It’s not so much our individual skills, it’s more how we work as a team that’s brought us to the No. 1 seed.”
Windsor’s young squad has built the kind of chemistry that sometimes takes years to develop. For a program that was simply looking to get back on its feet, the Yellowjackets have accomplished something greater than a winning season and a semifinal appearance.
No matter the result Windsor’s postseason run, its athletes — all of whom should return next fall — feel that they’ve already won.
“I wouldn’t say we’re going to focus on being the (No.) 1 seed, but I think we saw that we could do that, that we could dominate our season so much that we were rewarded a bye (in the quarterfinal round),” Bigwood said. “Looking back at how far we’ve come after not having a program for two years, I’m just so proud of everyone.”
Added Hannah Wood: “No matter the outcome, I’m still going to be proud of this team and what we’ve done.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.