Divisional realignment rocks Chittenden County

4 Chittenden County highschool soccer groups are on the transfer following the announcement of the state’s divisional realignments forward of the 2022 season.

Former Division I applications Mount Mansfield and Colchester have been relegated to D-II, whereas Milton and Rice drop from D-II to D-III. The strikes comply with MMU and Colchester’s 1-7 information in the course of the 2021 season. Milton and Rice skilled two and three-win campaigns, respectively, final fall.

The Vermont Interscholastic Soccer League committee bases the divisional realignment on a formulation of whole gamers inside a program, dimension of the varsity and up to date staff success.   

The state’s 30 applications are divided into three divisions; 9 in D-I; 10 in D-II and 11 in D-III. See beneath for the complete divisional breakdown.

Mount Mansfield joined the D-I ranks in 2017 and gained this system’s lone state championship a 12 months later beneath the tutelage of former coach Marty Richards. For the reason that 2018 title run, the Cougars have struggled to remain aggressive in opposition to the state’s greatest applications.

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“If you happen to take a look at the share of athletes who play soccer in comparison with what we’ve in our constructing, we do not have the share that even we had just a few years in the past,” Mount Mansfield athletic director David Marlow mentioned. “We’re additionally declining numbers in our youth system and our youth program.”

Round simply 10% of boys in grades 11th of September that attend the Chittenden County program this 12 months had been on the soccer staff, based on Marlow. The Cougars additionally confronted accidents to key positions, forcing junior varsity gamers to maneuver up, after athletes recurrently performed complete video games.  

Colchester’s change got here on the heels of greater than a decade in D-I. The Lakers certified for the eight-team D-I playoffs eight instances over that span, however superior previous the quarterfinals simply as soon as: the 2014 squad that completed 7-3 and was routed by Middlebury within the semifinals.

Longtime Lakers coach Tom Perry spoke extremely of his staff’s willingness to compete within the state’s high league, however cited potential matchups and college dimension as causes to reset.

“As an alternative of enjoying Brattleboro and Mount Anthony, which we’ve nice video games with, we had been going to play Rutland and St. Johnsbury, which have groups which can be somewhat bit above our league when it comes to dimension.

“It (divisional realignment) was a proposal to attempt to take advantage of aggressive three leagues we might,” Perry mentioned. “So if you happen to take a look at it that approach, we would have been profitable.”

Not one of the remaining 9 applications in D-I requested to drop within the state’s ranks, based on Perry.

Rice and Milton to Division III

Rice, which dropped to D-II after the 2019 season, is hindered by low participation numbers. The Inexperienced Knights, pressured to forfeit twice in the course of the 2019 season, dressed each athlete for varsity video games this previous fall whereas its JV squad performed a modified schedule.   

“What went into our determination was purely numbers,” Rice athletic director and former soccer coach Neil Brodeur mentioned. “We have seen a drop off in our numbers for soccer and in the beginning we need to maintain our children protected.

“And soccer is a troublesome sport to proceed to develop whenever you’re having lean years like that. I do not need to keep in D-III, however at this explicit time for this system, I feel it is one of the best factor for Rice Excessive College.”

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Brodeur, who acknowledged potential college students from across the state can attend the varsity, pointed to the shortage of a youth program that permits athletes to transition into the Rice program for a drop in numbers.

Milton, much like its county neighbors, desires to maneuver again up within the ranks as quickly as doable, however expressed the necessity to develop the game first.

“It isn’t about dropping all the way down to win a state championship,” Milton coach Jim Provost mentioned. “It is about enjoying in a division and a schedule that we may be aggressive in and if we lose all of our video games or win all of our video games, then so be it, however the previous couple of years we’ve not been in a aggressive division.”

Going through declining numbers — solely 20 gamers might be returning for subsequent fall — Milton inquired about making a co-operative staff with Missisquoi up to now 12 months. Nevertheless, the proposition was in the end rejected, based on Provost.

“I with all of my coronary heart imagine we are going to get there nevertheless it’s not an in a single day course of,” Provost mentioned about rebuilding Milton and Vermont soccer.

The alignment will stay in place for simply the 2022 season and might be reevaluated subsequent winter.

Finish-of-season format tweaked

Following an eight-week common season, postseason play in every division stays a three-found format: Quarterfinals, semifinals and title video games. 

In D-II, the 2 applications that don’t qualify for the playoffs will play one another in a Week 9 matchup.

And in D-III, the 4 groups who miss the state event minimize will compete within the newly devised Vermont Coaches Affiliation Match Cup. The seeding might be primarily based on regular-season efficiency and the staff that had essentially the most success of the 4 might be awarded the very best seed. 

“After we switched to an eight-week schedule, the sensation was we needed to nonetheless give all the colleges 9 weeks of play,” mentioned Middlebury athletic director Sean Farrell, who additionally serves because the state’s scheduler.”

The lone staff eradicated from D-I cannot play a Week 9 sport. 

2022 DIVISIONAL ALIGNMENT

* Denotes change in division

DIVISION I:

BFA-St. Albans, Burlington/South Burlington, Burr and Burton, Champlain Valley, Essex, Hartford, Middlebury, Rutland, St. Johnsbury

DIVISION II: 

Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Colchester*, Truthful Haven, Mount Anthony, Lyndon, Mount Mansfield*, North Nation, Spaulding, U-32.

DIVISION III:

BFA-Fairfax, Mill River, Milton*, Mount Abraham*, Oxbow, Otter Valley, Poultney, Rice*, Springfield, Windsor, Woodstock.

Turn out to be a member of the Vermont Varsity Insider Fb group at https://bit.ly/2MGSfvX. 

Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Comply with on Twitter: @ByJacobRousseau