It may not have been the strongest South Burlington boys soccer team in recent years, but it was the one that put them on top.
After falling short in the Division I championship game four times in the last six years, the fourth-seeded Rebels topped three-seed CVU 1-0 to win their first state title since 1991.
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| South Burlington | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| CVU | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“I said at the beginning of the year, we were going to have a strong defense and we’d have to get goals out of people that may have been unexpected,” said South Burlington head coach David Martin. “It took us quite a while to believe in ourselves but after the loss to Essex we had a big sit down and we spoke [to the players] about it being their year.”
Opportunity struck for South Burlington (13-4-1) in the 13th minute after Eric Davidson was fouled inside the 18-yard box, and the Rebels were awarded a penalty kick. Senior Andrew Mallory took the shot which deflected off CVU goalie Brandon O’Connell. Mallory was there and fired in the rebound for the Rebels lead.
“I picked a side, the CVU goalie made a good save and I was just lucky enough to be there and follow through with the goal,” said Mallory. “We went up early on them last time and that was key to the victory, but all the credit goes to our defense—Jack [Tarricone], Henry [Mercier], Robby [Wetmore] and Will [Coles].”
The goal was just the second of the season for Mallory, who played on two of the South Burlington teams that lost in the finals.
“We hadn’t been lucky on this field,” said Mallory. “I didn’t want to go 0-3 in state championships and I was real pumped up for my senior year. We all didn’t want to go out losing again.”
The season started slow for South Burlington as they held a 4-3 record at the end of September. The Rebels then ended the season on a 9-1-1 tear. The offense began to find themselves and fourteen different players ended up scoring goals for the Rebels in front of a solid defense.
“That is a tribute to everyone working hard since the beginning of the year,” said Martin. “This team has six freshman—three of them played today. We believe in bring young people along so when they become seniors, they are able to contribute.”
The Rebels were outshot 23-5 by the Redhawks. Each team had one corner kick opportunity.
CVU finishes the season with a 14-3-1 record. The Redhawks had won eight of the last ten titles in Division I, including a span of seven in a row from 2003 to 2007.
South Burlington goalie Sean Keogh had five saves. O’Connell finished with two saves for CVU.
