Tournaments continue for Harwood soccer, volleyball, cross country
Season’s ended for Champion golfers, field hockey, bass fishing
October 24, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti UPDATE Sunday, Oct. 26 | Soccer, volleyball teams advance
Harwood Boys and Girls Soccer, Volleyball and Cross Country teams all continue their competitions this coming week.
Boys Soccer: On Friday, No. 2-seeded and defending Division II champions Boys Soccer eliminated U-32 in the quarterfinal match at home, 2-0. See Times Argus coverage here.
Girls Soccer: Also ranked No. 2, the Highlanders defeated Montpelier on Saturday morning at home, 4-1. See Times Argus coverage here.
Semifinal soccer games both will be played at Harwood this week: the boys take on No. 6 Milton on Tuesday; the girls will host No. 3 U-32 on Wednesday. Both of those games are scheduled for 3 p.m.
The other semifinal soccer contests happening on Wednesday are: (boys) No. 1 Mt. Abe vs. No. 5 Rice; (girls) No. 1 Rice vs. No. 4 Lamoille. The Division II boys and girls soccer final matches are scheduled for Friday (yes, Halloween), at Burlington High School — girls at 5 p.m., boys at 7 p.m.
Harwood Volleyball travels on Wednesday to Middlebury for the semifinal round at 6 p.m. The Times Argus notes that the Highlanders’ quarterfinal win over Rice was the first in program history. The state volleyball championship match is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 2, at Saint Michael’s College.
Harwood Cross Country will compete in the Meet of Champions on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Hard’ack in St. Albans. See coverage of Saturday’s state championships in the Times Argus here and here.
Harwood senior Brycen Scharf takes a shot. Photo by Gordon Miller
Harwood Union student-athletes advance in multiple playoffs with matches today, Saturday and early next week for boys and girls soccer, and volleyball, as well as the state cross country meet Saturday in Thetford.
Boys Soccer hosts today’s Division II quarter-final match starting at 3 p.m. on the lower soccer field. The No. 2-seeded Highlanders (12-2-1) face No. 10 U-32 (7-8). Harwood sailed through the playdown round on Tuesday, defeating No. 15-ranked Otter Valley 16-0.
The winner of today’s quarter-final will play the winner of today’s 5 p.m. matchup of No. 3 Milton and No. 6 Montpelier. The semi-final round is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Harwood Senior Addison Olney battles against Peoples in the rain. Photo by Gordon Miller
Harwood Boys Soccer has made it to the D-II championship match the past three years and claimed state titles in 2023 and 2024.
Girls Soccer continues at home as well, hosting the Division II quarterfinals at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The second-seeded Highlanders (9-3-3) will take on No. 10 Montpelier (6-8-1). The winner will then face the victor in Saturday’s other quarter-final game that matches up No. 3 U-32 and No. 6 Mt. Abe. The girls semifinal also is slated for Oct. 28.
Harwood girls handily won their playdown round on Wednesday, shutting out Stratton Mountain, 6-0.
Wednesday also saw Harwood Volleyball (12-3) advance to the semifinal round in the D-II state tournament. The No. 4 Highlanders blanked No. 5 Rice (7-8) with three shutouts in the quarterfinals. They will play either No. 1 Middlebury or No. 9 Vermont Commons on Oct. 29.
On Saturday, Harwood Cross Country travels to Thetford for the 2025 Vermont State Cross-Country Championship meet.
For detailed recaps of the recent playoff games, see coverage in The Times Argus: Boys Soccer vs. Otter Valley and Girls Soccer vs. Stratton and Volleyball vs. Rice.
Highlights from Harwood v. Lamoille | Photos by Gordon Miller
Highlights from Harwood v. Peoples | Photos by Gordon Miller
Harwood Golf brings home D-II title
The Harwood Golf team with the Division II state championship trophy. Left to right: juniors Levi Wilson and Braedon Bellows, sophomores Chase Ladabouche and Pyke Nelson, senior and team Captain Steele Nelson, senior Jake Venafra. Photo courtesy of Coach Brian McCarthy
The fall season has come to a close for several Harwood fall teams.
Most notably, Harwood Golf won a spot in the record books, landing the 2025 Division II championship with a low score of 326 over Lyndon (340). The state championships were held Oct. 7 at the Dorset Field Club.
Chase Ladabouche and Pyke Nelson each shot a 78 in the match; Steele Nelson with an 82 and Jake Venafra shooting an 88 completed Harwood’s top four.
Both Ladabouche and Pyke Nelson qualified for the New England’s match as well, according to Coach Brian McCarthy.
Harwood Field Hockey, ranked 9th, ended its season on Monday in the first playoff playdown round against No. 8 Milton, 2-0.
The Harwood Bass Fishing team shows off their catch with Coach Scott Green at the Vermont State Championship tournament earlier this month. Left to right: Senior Captain Acer Thompson, juniors Pat Flaherty, Wyatt Babic and Ryan Lacey. Vermont Sports Images photo by Paul Lamontagne to from
High school Bass Fishing also ended its season earlier this month. The state tournament was held on Oct. 7 in South Hero at the John Guilmette Fishing Access Site on Lake Champlain. Harwood finished in 10th place with a total weight of 14.73 pounds, a mix of large and smallmouth bass. The team came in second place at the Fall Classic held two weeks prior to the state championship.
White River Valley High School took first place at the state contest, followed by Burr & Burton Academy, Middlebury Union and Richford.