Addison Independent, Thursday, April 13, 2017 — PAGE 11C
VERGENNES
VUHS
HIGH
SCHOOL
Girls’ Lacrosse
By ANDY KIRKALDY VERGENNES — With a little help from Mount Abraham, the Vergennes Union girls’ lacrosse team is taking flight this spring as a full-fledged varsity program after five years as a club. With a half-dozen Eagle athletes — some of whom have been traveling to practice with the Commodore club for a couple years or more — added to the mix, VUHS is taking on a full Division II girls’ lacrosse schedule for the first time this season. The team also has a new coach, veteran Vermont official and former college coach MariKate Kelley. Kelley has been impressed with the chemistry of her Commodore group. “There are some advantages to a club team. Because as a club team they’ve all had to help each other out,” Kelley said. “So on this team they’re already doing that, and sometimes on a varsity squad there’s not always that much help in terms of the stronger players really helping and working with the players who are learning. So there’s a really good attitude and environment for that.” Like any program that is still essentially a start-up, experience levels vary, making that selfless attitude important.
VUHS
UNION
Kelley identified in the preseason a core of more experienced players whose roles she could begin to define even before getting out onto fields: Senior Ashley Turner, junior Erin Lawrence and sophomore Jalen Cook are likely to anchor the midfield; juniors Norah Deming and Lexi Chickanosky and freshmen Leah Croke and Siobhan Eagan will be on the attack, with Deming also likely to slide to middie; and senior Jackie Reiss will be a defensive mainstay. “We’ve got some players who are really strong, and then we’ve got to fill in around them,” Kelley said. Kelley said sophomore Madison Valiquette and freshman Emily Brinkman are the goalies, while junior Peighton Duprey, sophomore Sara Pichlmann and freshman Chloe Johnston look promising on defense. Freshman Emma Beauchemin will probably operate at midfield, while Kelley tentatively lists junior Ally Atkins, sophomore Lillian Goodyear and freshman Brianna Billings as attackers. Final positions will be determined once the Commodores can get out of the gym and onto the grass, Kelley said. As far as expectations, Kelley is not selling her team short. She is
familiar with most of the teams the Commodores will face, and thinks they can hold their own. “Looking from officiating, I’ve seen what the Division II competition is, and I think we could be right in there,” she said. “If we pull everything together we could play with any of those teams, but it’s too soon to really know. They have the skills. It depends if they have the desire and can work well together.”
Vergennes Union High School Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse Date Opponent/Event Time 4/6 @ Colchester 4:30 p.m. 4/17 @ St. Johnsbury 4:30 p.m. 4/25 Harwood 4:30 p.m. 4/28 Randolph/Chelsea 4:30 p.m. 5/3 Stowe 4:30 p.m. 5/6 Lamoille 4 p.m. 5/8 @ Hartford 4:30 p.m. 5/10 U-32 4:30 p.m. 5/13 @ Harwood 11 a.m. 5/17 @ Randolph 4:30 p.m. 5/22 @ Stowe 4:30 p.m. 5/25 @ Lamoille 4:30 p.m. 5/27 @ U-32 11 a.m.
Vergennes Union High School Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse Team Coach: MariKate Kelley Lillian Goodyear Name Grade Sara Pichlmann Ashley Turner 12 Madison Valiquette Jackie Reiss 12 Emma Beauchemin Ally Atkins 11 Brianna Billings Lexi Chickanosky 11 Emily Brinkman Peighton Duprey 11 Leah Croke Nora Deming 11 Siobhan Eagan Erin Lawrence 11 Chloe Johnston Jalen Cook 10
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Baseball
By ANDY KIRKALDY VERGENNES — It was a frustrating 2016 for an inexperienced Vergennes Union baseball team playing mostly Division I competition in the Metro Conference: The Commodores won just once, and then had a golden opportunity at a first-round D-II playoff upset slip through their fingers. But Coach Dwight Burkett senses 2017 could be different, starting with leadership from seniors Hunter O’Connor and Devon Kimball and juniors Casey Kimball and Will Wormer and, at least early on, what appeared to be good chemistry. Those factors could help the Commodores absorb some lumps against the top D-I teams and retain the poise and confidence necessary to take care of business against other opponents. “We were a young team, and some of the losses were hard for them to absorb mentally,” Burkett said. “I have a better feeling of cohesiveness and team with these guys early on, so I’m cautiously optimistic about that. I think we’ve got enough veterans to show some leadership and help these guys along.” Burkett also noted that only two starters graduated, while a number of talented newcomers were in the preseason making it difficult for him to project a lineup. “There aren’t more than a couple, three positions that are locked up at this point,” Burkett said. “We have a lot of the younger kids back that I’ve seen before, but we also have a good group of young kids who I’ve haven’t
seen a lot of.” Certainly, O’Connor is the ace of the pitching staff, and Wormer returns as the No. 2 starter. From there, Burkett will look to Casey Kimball, sophomores Jacob Gonyeau and freshman Aidan Gardner to establish themselves on the mound. Devon Kimball returns behind the plate, where Burkett expects freshman Jeffrey Stearns to share time at catcher. From there, possibilities multiply. O’Connor, Devon Kimball, Wormer and sophomore Cooper O’Brien might all play first base. Middle infield candidates include Casey Kimball, junior Thomas Richards, sophomores Ethan Bissonette and Austin Goodell, and freshman Robbie Bicknell. Likewise, third base has plenty of competition: Junior Samir Kadric, sophomore Cyrus Devine and Gonyeau are all in the mix. Junior Ethan Sausville is a safe bet for playing time in the outfield, and the list grows from there: Wormer, Kadric, Devon Kimball, Bicknell, Quinto, O’Connor, O’Brien, and junior unofficial team language tutor Albert Tsai are on it. How players respond when the Commodores finally get outside, and how they do against a new pitching machine that can dial up eight different pitches and arrived at the end of March, will help Burkett sort things out. Then game action will provide more guidance. “The people that are showing me they want to play in practice will get some time. And I’d like to get as many as I could in game situations and give
them an opportunity to show me what they’ve got,” Burkett said. As to how well the Commodores will fare, he said they have to improve their hitting, “weather the storm” against the top teams, and then pick off games against the rest of the schedule. “If we can find a way to hit a little bit, I think these guys have their head in the right spot, and maybe we can win a couple, three of those close games we didn’t win last year. And,
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playing in the Metro, if we can end up somewhere in the middle of the pack in the seeding for the tournament, I’m
cautiously optimistic.” Burkett said. “It would be nice to make a little run in the playoffs.”
Vergennes Union High School Boys’ Varsity Baseball 5/9 CVU Date Opponent/Event Time 5/11 @ St. Albans 4/18 St. Johnsbury 4:30 p.m. 5/13 @ Rice 4/20 @ South Burlington 4:30 p.m. 5/16 @ Missisquoi 4/22 @ Randolph 11 a.m. 5/18 Colchester 4/25 @ Mt. Mansfield 4:30 p.m. 5/20 Essex 4/27 Middlebury 4:30 p.m. 5/23 Milton 4/29 @ Burlington 11 a.m. 5/25 @ North Country 5/2 Spaulding 4:30 p.m. 5/4 @ Mt. Abe 4:30 p.m.
4:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. 11 a.m. 4:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. 11 a.m. 4:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m.
VUHS Baseball Team Coach: Dwight Burkett Name Grade Devin Kimball 12 Hunter O’Connor 12 Samir Kadric 11 Casey Kimball 11 Thomas Richards 11 Ethan Sausville 11 Will Wormer 11 Ethan Bissonette 10 Jacob Gonyeau 10 Austin Goodell 10 Cooper O’Brien 10 Gabriel Quinto 10 Robbie Bicknell 9 Aidan Gardner 9 Jeffrey Stearns 9
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