BRATTLEBORO- It was a Happy Halloween for the Twin Valley boys’ soccer team Wednesday as they defeated Cabot 3-1 to advance to the Division IV finals. The Wildcats attacked strong in the first half, controlling the ball in the midfield, then attacking from the sides. Ten minutes in, Eli Park came up from the defensive line to take a free kick on the left side of Cabot’s midfield. Park got the ball behind Cabot’s line and goalie Adlai Feldman didn’t charge the ball in air, leaving Colin Lozito to settle and shoot.

Cabot’s offense would get few chances in the first half, with a few long shots Wildcat goalie Sam Molner pounced on, and a wide open shot by Seth Herrien that rolled just right of the goal past a charging Molner.

Twin Valley’s offense has made their mark scoring goals in “bunches” as Coach Buddy Hayford calls them. In previous playoff games, the Wildcats scored four goals within 13 minutes against Twinville, and both of their goals in 10 minutes against Arlington.

Twin Valley scored two more goals within 12 minutes. First, Lozito bombed a free kick into Cabot’s goalie box, where Feldman appeared to corral it high. Feldman lost his grip as he came down, fumbling the ball to the left. Nick Nilsen came flying into the box to knock it in for the 2-0 lead.

Nilsen would score seven minutes later when Morrow Bernard’s header hit the crossbar and landed at Nilsen’s feet.

Hayford planned to attack in the first half, citing the field as an advantage. “I just thought we came out really sharp. We chose to attack in the better end of the field in the first half and play defense in the sloppier end. We figured by halftime the field would get worse and it did.” Hayford also was pleased his team has made a routine of scoring first, citing the stress of fighting from behind.

Cabot began to press in the last 10 minutes, and Cam Celley got Cabot on the board with 3:18 to play, beating two Twin Valley defenders and ripping a shot past Molner on the right side.

Injuries were a cause of concern for Hayford and his staff.

Offensive striker Tony Tarr sat out the last 60 minutes of the game with a bad knee, and on the field it got worse.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Evan Therrien was taken down hard in the box by Herrien, suffering a broken ankle.

Minutes later, Nilsen was helped off the field with a leg injury from another Herrien slide tackle outside of the box.

Hayford feels confident moving forward, seeing his team outscore opponents 9-1 in the playoffs.

Twin Valley will play the winner of Proctor and Sharon’s match today at Proctor.

The final will take place at 1 pm Saturday at South Royalton High School.