CVU Sports
by Edd Merritt,
October 6, 2011, page 18.....

Women’s Cross Country team again one of the best in New England.
CVU women’s cross-country team is proving itself to be one of the best in New England again this year, as it continues to place at or near the top in meet after meet. In mid-September Charlotte’s Claire Trotter and Isabelle Unger led the Redhawks to victory at Colchester, finishing third and fifth respectively. A week later Taylor Spillane and three of her teammates finished the three-mile course in under 20 minutes to capture second place in the 37th running of the Manchester Invitational. The team fell just short of knocking off an up-state New York powerhouse from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. Taylor again led her mates in the Woods Trail Run at Thetford as she captured first place in a large field of runners from across northern New England.

Rain hinders the matches but not the teams.
With the recent rains, whether or not to play a soccer match has been an often-asked question of late. Despite the inclement weather, both women and men have kept up their spirits with victories. A Charlotte contingent on the men’s side has helped the Redhawks garner wins in their last three outings. Captain Sam Raszka and Tucker Shelley have led the offense, while Ezra Mount-Finette has been a solid defender along with Brandon O’Connell in goal. Two of their three wins were particularly sweet as they conquered perennially strong foe Essex in overtime, 1-0, and revenged their lone loss of the season against Harwood, 3-1. In a 3-0 shutout of Mount Mansfield, Raszka scored twice and set up the third tally by teammate Roshi Brooklyn.
On the women’s side of the ledger, Charlotte sophomore Haliana Burhans has aided the Redhawk cause through her playmaking. She helped maintain the team’s unbeaten record with an assist in the 3-0 shutout of Mount Mansfield. Sophia Steinhoff has been CVU’s offensive threat as the women have reached a 7-0-1 record. Their latest win came over previously undefeated South Burlington on the Rebels’ home pitch. Sophia and Emma Davitt coupled two goals with the team’s strong defense, which found itself defending its box for much of the second half, for a 2-0 win. Coach Brad Parker said he was pleased with the way the defenders kept things calm as the Rebels frantically tested them.

Football takes a squeaker, then one on the chin.
The Spirit Day football game against St. Johnsbury Academy started bleakly, and it wasn’t due to just overcast skies. CVU could not get its offense moving through two quarters. Injured quarterback Drew Nick paced the sidelines impatiently, leaning into each play as though he wanted the ball. The Redhawks came out in the second half with their defense strengthened and Steele DuBrul, Nick’s replacement, throwing two touchdown passes to Trevor Kennedy. Charlotte linebacker Ryan Fleming nearly got a third, taking a loose ball from over midfield and sprinting down the sideline. The defense held for a 14-0 victory.
A week later, a strong ground attack from BFA-St. Albans brought the Redhawk’s undefeated season to an abrupt halt. An opening kickoff fumble was an indication of the day’s turn of events. BFA forced five turnovers and ran through and around the CVU defenders for a 48-0 Bobwhite win. The Redhawks rushed for 80 yards, 61 of them by Charlotte’s Nick Farrentino, and quarterback Nick, back from his injury, completed 4 of 11 passes for 51 yards.
Prior to the Spirit Day game, Farrentino was featured in an article in the Burlington Free Press noting that so far this year, after sitting out all last season with a shoulder injury, he has amassed 546 yards rushing with 10 touchdowns.

Field hockey picks up its first two wins.
Goals have been in short supply for the Redhawk field hockey team this year. However, lately it coupled a tenacious defense with a spit of offense to take two overtime contests. After traveling to Burlington a day prior to its own Spirit Day, the women kept Burlington High School’s non-winning season intact by defeating the Seahorses 2-1 on a Michelle Perry corner with two minutes left. Following up its first win of the season CVU duplicated the feat on Spirit Day as Kathryn Loucks scored midway through the overtime period for a 1-0 shutout of Colchester, revenging an earlier 2-1 loss to the Lakers. CVU then fell to South Burlington 3-0 to stand at 2-5-3.