White River Junction
Instead, the short and stocky senior returned in fewer than six months and his three goals and assist Thursday night lifted the Wasps to a 9-3 victory on Hartford’s football field. The neighboring rivals were tied, 1-1, at halftime, but the Vermont Division I Wasps scored three of the third quarter’s four goals, won their sixth consecutive game and improved to 6-1.
“Even thought they’re D-II, they’re not a terrible team,” Potter said of the 5-3 Hurricanes, who moved up this season after a two-year stint as Division III finalists. “That was our first close game of the season and I could tell that some of our kids were feeling scared and didn’t know how to deal with the situation.
“It came down to us playing Woodstock lacrosse, which is a lot of touches on the ball, moving it side to side and finding the open look at the net.”
Wasps coach Brandon Little said his team seemed out of sorts to start, which he attributed to a different routine. Woodstock usually plays during the day and the varsity almost always competes before the JV game. However, the lower-level contest came first on Thursday, so the big boys waited around as sundown approached.
“We haven’t played on this field; everything was new for us tonight,” Little said. “Keeping our composure was important and once we finished off some easier (shots) and got rolling, it went our way.”
Hartford goaltender Kyle Prior made eight saves, most of them eye-catching. The senior, who tore multiple knee ligaments last spring as a field player, has returned for an improbable final season and made more foot stops Thursday than many netminders make in several contests combined.
“He ate up everything low and gave us a real tough time,” Little said admiringly. “But we did a real good job riding their clear tonight.”
That was the flip side to Prior’s performance: he committed nearly as many turnovers as he made saves. Time after time, he ventured upfield and hurled long, low-percentage passes that landed in open space or bounced off his teammates’ sticks. Woodstock became more than willing to cover his passing options and wait for a wild heave.
At the other end, Hartford junior midfielder Reece Thompson had two goals, but his team didn’t have the ball often enough for him to get many good looks at the cage. Jacob Derosier also scored and Andrew Knight and Hunter Hutchinson had assists.
“The two times we didn’t play solid defense on (Thompson), he got the goal,” Little said. “We couldn’t let him get his second hand on the stick when shooting.”
Woodstock’s Gabriel Marsicovetere quietly stopped nine shots, his sizable frame and strong positioning meaning he didn’t have to make any spectacular saves. The junior is the Wasps’ fastest player, so why not let him bring the ball up as Prior does for the Hurricanes?
“Nope,” Little said flatly. “Too dangerous.”
Lucas Piconi had two goals for Woodstock, which also received a goal and two assists from Cullen McCarthy, single goals from Caden White, Jed Astbury and Micah Schlabach and an assist from Ora Astbury.
Notes: Hartford co-coach Bill Elberty, in his first year sharing the job with newcomer Grant Whiteway, allowed the younger man to run the offensive huddle and assistant Sam Polas to oversee the defense during timeouts. Polas is a former Hurricanes goaltender. … Little said that while Potter used to be the Wasps’ faceoff man, they can now save his energy because Jed Astbury is winning draws at a 65 percent clip. … Potter said he plans to attend the University of New Hampshire starting in the fall and may try out for the club lacrosse team there. … Former Woodstock star Hunter Schmell is a senior midfielder with seven goals and an assist at Merrimack (Mass.) College, an NCAA Division II team that’s 13-1. … Another onetime Wasp, Dan Robinson, is a freshman at St. Lawrence (N.Y.) University (12-5) and has three goals. … Castleton (Vt.) University (10-7) features two Woodstock graduates in senior defender Ed Doton, who’s started every game, and freshman long-stick midfielder Luc Issa, who’s started twice, played in every contest and has an assist. … Over at Rensselaer (N.Y.) Polytechnic Institute, senior midfielder and former Woodstock standout Oliver Kaija has started all 12 of the games in which he’s played and is winning 50 percent of his draws as the Engineers’ faceoff specialist and has a team-leading 62 ground balls.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.