Conant girls’ soccer upsets Campbell behind Vitello's hat trick

Conant junior Riley Vitello scores the Orioles’ first goal in their 3-2 upset win over visiting Campbell in Jaffrey on Tuesday.

Conant junior Riley Vitello scores the Orioles’ first goal in their 3-2 upset win over visiting Campbell in Jaffrey on Tuesday. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant senior captain Rachel Dewees locks on to a ball in the midfield. 

Conant senior captain Rachel Dewees locks on to a ball in the midfield.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Riley Vitello celebrates her goal with teammates. 

Riley Vitello celebrates her goal with teammates.  BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Riley Vitello and Campbell's Taylor Borst battle for a header. 

Riley Vitello and Campbell's Taylor Borst battle for a header.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Ava Rollins and Campbell's Aaliya Chaudhry clash along the sideline. 

Conant's Ava Rollins and Campbell's Aaliya Chaudhry clash along the sideline.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant senior captain Lola Hayes tracks down a ball on defense. 

Conant senior captain Lola Hayes tracks down a ball on defense.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant’s Rhianna Aho and Campbell’s Madeline Cuvellier do battle along the sideline.

Conant’s Rhianna Aho and Campbell’s Madeline Cuvellier do battle along the sideline. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant senior captain Izzie Rollins flies in for a defensive stop.

Conant senior captain Izzie Rollins flies in for a defensive stop. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Conant's Hannah Manley plays defense in the midfield. 

Conant's Hannah Manley plays defense in the midfield.  BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

By BEN CONANT

For the Ledger-Transcript

Published: 10-23-2024 12:03 PM

The Conant girls’ soccer team got its biggest win of the season Tuesday, striking three times off the foot of junior Riley Vitello to hand visiting Campbell just its second loss of the season.

“We knew that Campbell was going to be a tough game,” Vitello said after the 3-2 Oriole win. “It’s really great for us to knock out the second seed. We really came together and I’m really proud of all of the team.”

Vitello and the Orioles were on a mission Tuesday, and the team had to be focused.

Campbell (12-2-1) got off the bus second in Division III, with their only loss coming against undefeated Gilford (15-0-1) along with a tie with Kearsarge (8-5-1). Conant (8-5-2) had won three of its last five and was coming off a tie with a good Raymond team that had them feeling confident coming into Tuesday’s contest.

“Over the past couple of games we’ve been working on communicating, and today I think we overcommunicated. We knew where each other were,” Vitello said.

An emphasis on communication led to Conant connectivity, and the Orioles had no problem weaving through the Cougar defense and setting up goal-scoring opportunities. Despite Campbell grabbing an early lead on a successful Katherine Fluet penalty kick, Conant was in control and putting the pressure on.

Vitello evened the score at the 23-minute mark when she cleaned up a deflected corner kick, and that score would stand until 20 minutes into the second half, when she corralled an unorthodox Campbell clear attempt and fired it in from just outside the box. Not done, she’d complete the hat trick with eight minutes left to put the Orioles up 3-1. Amelia Laplante added one last goal to make it 3-2, but Conant held on and secured the upset win.

Vitello’s hat-trick goals were her 15th, 16th and 17th on the season. She admitted that it felt “very good” but stressed that her teammates’ crisp passing was what put her in position to strike.

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“That’s what we’ve been working on in practices,” Vitello said. “Josie Seppala, her first assist today, really proud of her. That was one of the assists for one of my goals – she knew where to place it. She knew where to be. She was there. It went in, it was perfect.”

Campbell averages nearly four goals a game, and Conant halved that, thanks in part to good goalkeeping from Violet Bennet and in part to strong defense, led by the team’s four captains: backs Izzie Rollins and Lola Hayes and midfielders Rachel Dewees and Rhianna Aho.

It was a statement win for Conant, who are now officially battle-tested and looking stronger than ever heading into next week’s playoffs. First, they’ll host bottom-of-the-barrel Bishop Brady (2-11-2) for senior night Friday, and then they’ll await an assignment for their playoff opener Tuesday.

“I’d say this is 99% of our potential,” Vitello said. “I think we’re ready to bring it for playoffs. We’re feeling pretty confident for Bishop Brady, and that should put us in eighth if we win that day - and then we will bring it on to whoever we’ve got next.”