By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — Stevens welcomed Vermont’s Division 2 Hartford onto the pitch for an early season scrimmage on Saturday morning, and came away with a solid performance. “I am so excited to start the season, this is an incredible group of athletes on this team,” said Cardinals Head Coach Jason Stone as enters his 11th season at the helm.
Stone is still tinkering with his alignments, but at halftime when he asked the team if they wanted to switch to a more defensive heavy formation, the resounding yes resulted in a dominating second half performance by the Cardinals. With all-state keeper Cooper Moote heading away to college, the most pressing need at goaltending appears to be a great one for Stone. “We have two outstanding sophomore keepers in Nevin Marsh and Maddox Foster, they are both so equal and such good friends,” said Stone.
After a scoreless first half, junior Luke Belisle opened up the scoring with a rip in the box for the first of the three Cardinals goals. “This team is deep and solid, I don’t think we’ll have any issues keeping our energy up, this team is hungry,” said Belisle as he begins his 3rd season at the varsity level.
“I love our simple play, nothing tricky, just smart soccer today, we are making strides and will be ready for our opener,” said Stone.
The Cardinals have moved into Division 3 this year and open their season at home on Friday at 4 PM against Monadnock, after heading up to Lebanon for another scrimmage on Tuesday.
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