The Brattleboro Union High School boys' soccer team split a pair of games to close out the home portion of their schedule, losing 6-2 to Rutland and beating Taconic, 3-0.
Rutland came to Tenney Field Thursday night with a 5-5-1 record that belied their talent. The Raider offense, led by Jacob Godfrey and Jacob Henderson, was a clinic on passing into space. The two hooked up on Godfrey's first of four goals 15 minutes into the game when Henderson crossed a pass to him through traffic from the right side of the box.
Henderson notched his second assist 10 minutes later on a mirror image of the first scoring play, finding Kyle Waite with a cross from the left. Then the sophomore got one of his own just before halftime to push the lead to 3-0.
Jack Price got the Colonels on the board early in the second half with a put back after the goalkeeper couldn't corral Ian Fulton Black's free kick from 30 yards out. Then Godfrey scored twice for Rutland within a two-minute span to put the game out of reach.
It was the kind of offensive execution that Coach Paul Sather has seen on occasion this season, but usually against lower division opponents. That was the case again at Sawyer Field on Saturday afternoon, when 3-8-1 Taconic came to town.
Jasper Reed put the Colonels up 1-0 just 11 minutes in, receiving a pass in stride while streaking down the right sideline. Reed's burst gave him enough separation from his defender to line up the ball for a strong drive that landed just inside the far post.
Brattleboro peppered Braves' keeper Cody Latimer with 28 shots. The senior put up a valiant effort with 13 saves and many hard charges from the net to cut off well-placed passes in the box.
It took until the 72nd minute for Brattleboro to score again, this time on a ball Matt Dulmaine bent beautifully from the left side to the far post from about 40 yards out. Owen Toleno tried a similar shot less than two minutes later that ricocheted off the crossbar right to a charging Tanner Bell, who one-timed it into the back of the net for the Colonels' third goal.
The Colonels are in the playoffs with a 5-6-1 record. Sather is hoping to get that record over .500 and avoid playing a top-four team in the opening round, but that's a big hill to climb with remaining games against a Mount Anthony team that beat them 3-1 back in September and then Saturday at Rutland.