Rice outlasts Harwood in D-II Girls Soccer final
November 2, 2025 | By James Biggam | Times Argus staff writer This story was originally published by the Times Argus on Oct. 31.
Photo gallery images by Angela Nadeau / primetimephotography.org. Video clips from the National Federation of State High School Associations game coverage.
Harwood Union Highlanders (left) and Rice Memorial Green Knights during the national anthem at the D-II girls soccer final match at Burlington High School on Oct. 31. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
BURLINGTON—Harwood was 71 seconds away from ending a 15-year title drought Friday night when dreams of that storybook end to the season were dashed by an equalizing goal from Rice.
Then the Division II girls soccer championship took another cruel twist for the Highlanders when they celebrated for nearly a minute after an apparent game-winner in the second overtime period – only to find out that the scorer was offside.
And with 1:49 remaining before a potential penalty-kick shootout, Rice’s Reese Billings found a second wind up the right flank and closed out her four-year varsity career with a golden goal for a 2-1 victory. “In that moment I saw the ball and I saw the goal and I was like, ‘I just have to finish it,’” Billings said.
Even though Rice outshot Harwood throughout regulation, the Green Knights had every reason to shift into panic mode after the Highlanders pulled ahead 1-0 in the 77th minute. Sarah Guidice netted the equalizer with 1:11 on the clock, but Rice’s players were devastated when Harwood erupted into celebration mode after a follow-up shot in the 100th minute found the back of the net.
However, the exuberant victory party was cut short when the head official eventually saw that a sideline referee was holding his flag in the air for an offside violation that negated the goal. Once play resumed, Billings took matters into her own hands during the waning minutes of double overtime by rocketing a long-distance shot off the bottom of the crossbar to give her team its third championship in five seasons.
“There were so many emotions and I can’t even begin to describe all of them,” Billings said. “It’s still going through my head and it’s kind of surreal. But in the end, it was our mindset. We didn’t give up and we really didn’t think about, ‘Oh, the other team scored on us.’ None of that. It was just a next-play mentality and finishing it off for our family, for our girls that can’t play, for the girls that were on the bench – just for everyone. Because we’ve really worked hard this season.”
Rice snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak by Harwood, which hadn’t lost to a D-II team all season before the final. The Green Knights didn’t lose to a D-II opponent this fall and closed out the year with a seven-game undefeated streak.
The Green Knights avenged last year’s 3-1 playdown loss to Harwood and sent a message across Vermont that good things are on the horizon with nine sophomores and two freshmen on the roster.
“My freshman year, we won the championship and that was really exciting and an amazing experience to be a part of,” Billings said. “And then to end it senior year to also win the championship, it’s just really thrilling. We’ve had some building years and we’ve worked to really build our team up and the team chemistry. And we’ve come so far and I’m so excited to see how much further this team can go in future years.”
Rice ends the fall at 12-2-3 after last fall’s 5-9-1 campaign, which was the team’s first losing record in the regular season since 2006. The Green Knights are 7-6 all-time in title games, while Harwood falls to 12-4-3 and drops to 1-6 in championship appearances.
“The big thing was rebounding after last year and just coming in with that winning mentality again,” Rice coach Aubrey Ouellet said.
Green Knights keeper Peyton Borick made 17 saves and was at her best late in the match after being relatively untested during some earlier stretches. “Peyton is just a rock and she’s amazing back there,” Billings said. “She doesn’t give up. She lets in a goal and she doesn’t let it affect her mentally. And that’s huge. We need to have a goalie that we trust and she showed up for us all season.”
Harwood keeper Tara Nagel with 21 saves started preseason with Rice before switching to join the Highlanders. Nagel split time in goal for the majority of the season before assuming full-time duties Sept. 29. And even though the Highlanders only allowed three goals over their final 926 minutes of the season, they still somehow walked away without the top prize.
“I’m really grateful (for Nagel) as a goalkeeping coach,” Harwood coach Lynn Sobczyk said. “I thought I was down pretty bad with a goalkeeper when Anna (Brundage) graduated. And when I heard (Nagel) was coming to try out from Rice, I was so excited. ...She’s got so much heart, and she drives this team. And she’s just an incredible human.”
Defenders Adeline Lazorchek, Adelaide Sullivan, Bridan Merrill and Sophia DeSanto helped Harwood pitch 11 shutouts this season and are all poised to return next year along with Nagel. And during Friday’s match, Sobczyk relied on junior Marley McVeigh to guard Billings as a left fullback while moving sophomore Adelaide Chalmers into more of an offensive role.
“I’ve been pushing Adelaide to attacking mid and striker just to switch things up,” Sobczyk said. “She’s tall and she’s a big body and she’s got a good IQ for the game. And her and her sister playing together are so much fun to watch.”
Photo gallery below by Angela Nadeau of primetimephotography.org. Scroll over images for captions.
A Highlanders fullback knocked the ball back toward Nagel near the 18-yard line in the third minute and the HU keeper grabbed the ball without being whistled for an infraction. A minute later Billings delivered a bouncing right-to-left service that Bayleigh Clark nearly buried from point-blank range, but Nagel got her gloves on the ball and refused to give the Green Knights standout a second-chance opportunity. Billings uncorked a 25-yard shot from the right side in the 11th minute and Nagel stayed close to the near post and kept the clean sheet intact.
Although Rice was untested defensively for several minutes, Borick had to be at her best in the 15th minute in order to rob Brauer during a close-range scoring chance outside the right post. Roanha Clamers picked up a yellow card in the 19th minute and Esme Cyr took the ensuing 45-yard free kick, sending a line-drive shot that skimmed off the slick turf and was caught on the first hop by Nagel.
Billings stayed active up the right flank and tested Nagel with another long-range missile in the 21st minute. Roanha Chalmers hammered a 30-yard shot through the football uprights in the 24th minute and then Clark sent a backward pass in transition to Guidice, who sent a booming shot over the target in the 27th minute.
Nagel stayed sharp a minute later by saving a blast by Cyr and then Borick matched her counterpart by snagging a lofted, spinning shot by Harwood’s Cora Binkerd. And the score remained knotted at 0-0 entering the break after Rice’s Summer Nelson headed a corner kick wide of the left post in the 39th minute.
Cyr took a 35-yard free kick from the right flank in the 42nd minute and directed low shot toward the far bar, only to be denied again by Nagel. Harwood’s Stella Mayone and Addison Olney provided a counterattacking presence for HU up top, but the Highlanders struggled to work the ball into their offensive third during the early stages of the second half. Brauer was taken down by a Rice opponent in the 59th minute, resulting in a 25-yard free kick that Roanha Chalmers lifted just over the crossbar.
Cyr slotted a low through ball up the right side in the 53rd minute and Billings showcased her power by unleashing a rising near-post shot that sailed just over the crossbar. A one-time shot from 22 yards out by Cyr was sailing toward the top portion of the goal in the 57th minute, but Nagel jumped up and tipped the ball over in the iron. Following a corner kick by Rice, a header by Nelson bounced toward the left post and Nagel changed direction on short notice to make a diving save.
Harwood came alive offensively in a hurry midway through the second half when an unselfish pass by Brauer set up Gia Gendiminico for a first-time shot that was a bit too high. The Highlanders survived a scary moment defensively in the 64th minute when Nagel punched away an initial shot and then scrambled to retrieve the loose ball near the penalty stripe before a Rice player could clean up the rebound.
Billing set up Cyr for a 25-yard shot in the 70th minute and Nagel stepped up by leaping toward the left post and denying the Green Knights again. The Harwood keeper stopped a left-footed scoring bid by Billings two minutes later and then won a footrace toward the outside of the penalty area and forcefully booted the loose ball out of bounds.
Harwood pulled ahead in the 77th minute after Gendiminico kept the play alive by retrieving a rebound outside the left post and testing the Green Knights’ back line again by sending the ball across the goal mouth. A Rice defender used her body to block the ball and then attempted to boot the ball away from danger her right foot, but Olney intercepted the clearance a few steps inside the penalty area. After sizing up her options, the HU senior made the split-second decision to loft a shoulder-high shot toward the right post. And to her delight, the quick shot flew just beyond the reach of Borick for a 1-0 lead.
A Rice shot hit the bottom portion of the crossbar in the 78th minute after a corner kick and was cleared away from trouble. But with 71 seconds left in regulation a desperation comeback bid by the Green Knights paid off when Guidice ripped a long-distance shot into the upper-left corner, tying things up at 1-1.
“Huge shout-out to Sarah: I don’t even know how she did it,” Billings said. “We were all in so much pain and a little bit hobbled. But she had that grit and determination and she just finished it off. And I’m really proud of her for sticking that one, because we really needed it and that’s what kept us going.”
Headed into overtime with a 1-1 tie; conditions at BHS stadium were soggy in a steady light rain. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
An apparent Rice goal was waved off due to a foul in the 91st minute and then two minutes later, Nagel tipped a long-range blast by Rice off the crossbar. For a moment, the ball rested on top of the bar before rolling back down toward the goal line, prompting Nagel to make another speedy reaction save before a Green Knights attacker could pounce on the tantalizing opportunity.
“The game played out how I expected: just two really good teams competing,” Ouellet said. “It just takes a bounce here or there and it was a bit of a rollercoaster, for sure. But we have a lot of respect for Harwood: They never gave up. And we kept fighting and it was just a really good game back and forth.”
Billings forced Nagel to make a fully extended save just below the crossbar in the 99th minute. And then Clark almost got a boot on a bobbled save by Nagel in the 97th minute following a right-to-left cross by Billings.
A wild sequence unfolded in the 100th minute when Borick batted away a long shot by Roanha Chalmers but watched the rebound roll out toward the top-right corner of the 6-yard box. Brauer sprinted toward the target and one-timed a shot into the back of the net, setting off an exuberant response by the Highlanders until they heard the heartbreaking news that a flag was raised on the play. As it turned out, the line judge ruled that Brauer was in an offside position when her teammate took the initial shot.
Harwood almost scored again in the 105th minute when Roanha Chalmers blasted a 30-yard free kick toward the left post, but Borick rose to the occasion by making a diving save a few feet in front of a pair of Highlanders. With both coaches already starting to make their selections for a possible penalty-kick shootout, everything changed in the 109th minute.
After several attempted Harwood clearances, a Green Knights player got a foot on the ball during a 50-50 challenge and was barely able to knock the ball forward to Billings. The standout took a few quick touches near the top-right portion of the penalty area and then executed a clinical finish with 1:49 on the clock, sending a powerful shot off the crossbar and across the goal line.
“I didn’t think about anything happening behind me or where the other team was,” Billing said. “I was just going for the goal.”
Harwood will graduate Olney and Roahna Chalmers, but a huge crew of 10 sophomores is likely to keep the Highlanders in the title conversation for the upcoming two seasons.
“We were on the field and we thought we won,” Sobczyk said. “And that leaves people hungry for next year. ...People doubted us all year. And you can doubt us, but we’re going to be there. And it doesn’t matter at the end of the day because those kids have so much heart and they’re so athletic and they’re so talented. It’s a special crew down at Harwood.”