BURLINGTON — The air temperature hovered around 80 degrees for much of Saturday’s Vermont Division II boys lacrosse final at the University of Vermont.
Virtue Field’s playing surface, comprised of artificial grass blades and pellets made of crushed black tires, was assuredly hotter. Hartford High’s offense, however, went ice cold midway through the second half as the second-seeded Hurricanes fell to top-seeded Rice, 10-7.
Leading, 6-5, at intermission, Hartford fell into a 7-7 tie after three quarters before the Green Knights scored all three of the final stanza’s goals and captured their first title in 11 years. Top-seeded Rice was upset by Harwood in last year’s final.
Hartford’s Gordon Willey scored four goals, all during the first half, with Ryan Spaulding collecting the Hurricanes’ only tally after the break. Joseph Barwood, who exploded for eight goals during a semifinal route of Harwood, was held to one goal Saturday while mostly blanketed by agile and aggressive Rice defender Dae Han McHugh.
“They picked up more loose balls than we did during the second half, and that’s what the game comes down to,” said Hartford coach Grant Whiteway, the Hurricanes’ head coach the past two seasons after previously working several campaigns in tandem with the late Bill Elberty. “We struggled to clear a little bit against their press ride … but our kids played hard.
“This has been the great group to coach and the first to completely buy into the offense and defense we run.”
Willey, one of Hartford’s seven seniors, scored twice to give his team a 2-1 lead. Barwood tallied off an Ezra Mock’s second assist of the afternoon, and the Hurricanes trailed, 4-3, after a quarter.
Spaulding scored a minute into the second period, followed by two more Willey strikes and Hartford led, 6-4, four minutes before halftime. Rice, however, answered with two goals sandwiched around Spaulding’s second tally, and the teams entered the final quarter tied, 7-7.
“Rice has some good players and scored some big goals down the stretch,” Whiteway said.
Rice was leading, 8-7, with six minutes to play when defender Miles Grant received a 30-second interference penalty and, shortly after rejoining play, another foul, this time a minute-long sojourn for slashing.
Hartford didn’t score during either man-up situation, and when the Green Knights notched their last two goals 26 seconds apart and with two minutes remaining, the title was theirs.
“We got some good shots off, but they weren’t on cage,” Whiteway said. “We didn’t have as many possessions in the second half, where we were able to settle in and get into our (offense).
“We turned the ball over in transition a few times, but we like to play fast and we let our kids play that way, the was the game was meant to be played.”
Notes: Each team had 29 shots. … The Hurricanes are 0-5 in state title games. They lost in Division II in 2004 and 2006 and in Division III in 2016 and 2017. … Hartford players Lachlan Park, Mock, Brayden Trombly and Evan Lynds each missed chunks of the second half with injuries. … Hartford has reached the state finals in the “stick sports” of field hockey, girls ice hockey, boys ice hockey, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse this school year. The Hurricanes are 0-4 so far, but the girls lacrosse squad is top-seeded and plays Vergennes on Monday at South Burlington High. … Rice improved to 3-5 in its Division II finals appearances. The Green Knights won in 2011 and 2005. … Whiteway’s father, also named Grant, was a vocal presence in the Hurricanes’ huddles and on its sideline. He previously coached in Massachusetts for many years.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.