Soccer pg 1 10-27-22
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Soccer team
clinches tie
for title; in
for States
It was a great week for the Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team.
It guaranteed itself a Class L state tournament berth early in the week with a 7-0 win over Fitch and followed that up Oct. 21 by clinching, at least, a share of the ECC Div. I regular season title with a 2-1 win over NFA.
“We set a goal to just improve and now, every day, we have to come up with a new goal because we’re better every day,” said coach, Dennis Snelling. “We went from let’s compete for the Div. I title to we might just have won it. We just want to keep going with whatever games we have left whether it’s the ECC or state tournament.”
The Centaurs owned a 4-1 divisional record coming into the week, a game better than both NFA and E. Lyme who are both 3-2.
The Centaurs finished up Oct. 24 with a game at E. Lyme (that ended too late for this edition).
The win meant it took the Div. I title for itself.
An E. Lyme win meant the ECC had to break out its tie-breaking formulas as all three teams would likely finish 4-2 in the division with the Centaurs beating NFA twice, NFA beating E. Lyme twice and the Vikings beating the Centaurs twice.
The Centaurs took a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats Oct. 21 when Grace Gelhaus scored an unassisted goal with 1 minute, 55 seconds left in the first half.
The Wildcats tied the match. Then, disaster nearly struck.
Junior keeper Rebecca Nazer collided with an NFA player 14 minutes into the second half. Snelling had to turn to freshman keeper Ellary Sampson.
The freshman did not allow a goal and with 16:12 left in regulation, her efforts were rewarded as senior Gabby Couture scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The team waited until the final match last season before officially punching its ticket.
The win over NFA raised its record to 7-4-2 but clinching a state tournament berth actually came the match before in the win over Fitch.
Woodstock wanted to get out of the box quickly against the Falcons.
Keeper Grace Jenkins proved formidable for Fitch in the first half, making six saves including one on a penalty kick by Freya Robbie to keep the score within reach early.
The Centaurs did get on the board 9 minute, 29 seconds into the contest when Leah Costa delivered a ball to Gelhaus’ left foot right in front of the net and Jenkins had no chance.
Woodstock then survived three good scoring chances by the Falcons to take a 2-0 lead 18 minutes later.
A determined Couture scored her first goal of the season when she took a point-blank shot at Jenkins on the right side of the net. The Fitch keeper stopped it but could not contain the rebound which bounced right back to Couture. She got her right foot on it again and this time, lifted it over Jenkins and just under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead.
The goals came fast and furious in the second half.
“We had a conversation (at the half) about how good we were playing. We played well, just needed to keep our composure and we were doing everything perfectly fine like passing the ball and just needed to do more,” Costa said.
The Falcons also employed the offside trap which the Centaurs fell into a couple of times in the first half.
The start of the second half, however, showed what was to come — Gelhaus just 1:59 into the second 40 minutes.
The senior now has 10 goals and seven assists on the season.
Costa followed just 1:44 later when a bit of fancy footwork forced Jenkins to commit and the sophomore slipped it into the net for her seventh goal of the year.
Costa transferred in from Stonington this year and feels more than accepted.
Juliet Allard took a pass from Costa with 27:45 left to make it 5-0 and Isabella Selmecki finished things up with her third and fourth goals of the season within five minutes of each other.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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psa pg 1 10-27-22
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The first thing you notice about Genevive Wedemeyer on the basketball court is the energy. Or the hard work. Or the defense. Or maybe it’s all of those things just rolled into one big thing. Whatever the case, you know you’re going to get it from Putnam Science Academy’s senior guard on the girls’ basketball team.
And the University of Alabama-Birmingham really liked that about her.
“I talked to them in the summer but then I didn’t play as well during AAU as we wanted me to, so that was obviously pretty frustrating,” Wedemeyer said. “During our open gyms in the fall, they came again to watch me play again, and they offered me, which showed me they wanted me for me. They saw my ups and downs but they still thought that I was a good fit for their program and I’m going to do great things.
“My energy and defense and being physical and always being there was not the problem. It was more like the finishing part of it all. I mean, I missed layups when they were watching during open gyms but they saw my reaction and that I didn’t give up and just kept playing hard.”
Wedemeyer took an official visit with the Blazers earlier this month, and committed quickly, essentially before she got on the plane back to Connecticut.
“There was a lot of excitement to finalize that decision,” said Wedemeyer, a native of Hamburg, Germany. “I had a good time getting to know the team, getting to know the coaches. Just knowing that I have a place to go and will develop as a person, not just as a basketball player, is an exciting feeling.”
Wedemeyer is the second Mustang in as many years to make Birmingham their college home, as Molly Moffitt, a teammate of Wedemeyer’s last year at PSA, is currently a Blazers freshman.
Mustangs coach Devin Hill isn’t naming team captains but said if he was, Wedemeyer would be one of them.
“I think she has taken some real big steps forward,” he said. “She’s definitely one of our ‘leaders.’ Gen brings a lot. When Gen’s not at practice, the team is totally different. You notice it. The energy, the defense. She is such a big part of what we’re trying to do.”
That, of course, is to win the first national championship in program history. PSA opened its season last weekend with two wins in three games at an event in Canada. The Mustangs play their home-opener tonight at 6, taking on CCRI.
“We have a lot of talent and we have a lot of people back from last year (when PSA finished fourth in the national tournament),” Wedemeyer said. “I think we’re all locked in and have that same focus. It’s going to be fun.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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three pg 1 10-27-22
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3 Pomfret
bridges
lined up to
be replaced
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — The new federal local bridge program will be a 100 percent godsend to some bridge in Pomfret.
The town recently submitted three bridges for 100 percent paid-for bridge replacement, according to First Selectman Maureen Nicholson.
The federal Department of Transportation Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act program goes through the state. The federal government puts up 80 percent of the cost and the state pays the remaining 20 percent.
The three bridges submitted are:
The Taft Pond Road bridge, the Bosworth Road bridge and the Day Road bridge. She said they will cover one bridge per year and she expects projects will take a couple years to start.
It will take some time, she said, for the bridge projects to be researched. She said they do traffic studies, research the soil, the quality and the volume of water and much more.
The Taft Pond Road bridge, currently needing help again, is at a 3-ton, cars only limit again. Scour (where vicious storm water washes away some of the soil at the base of the supports) is a problem again there.
The Day Road bridge also has a problem with scour.
The Bosworth Road bridge needs replacement. She said the road needs to be raised. The challenge with this bridge is that it’s on a dead end road. Detours will be a problem.
Nicholson said the town has 24 bridges. Twelve of them are longer than 20 feet and the other 12 are shorter than 20 feet. A few years ago, the state stopped doing inspections on bridges shorter than 20 feet and ordered the towns to have them inspected.
She added that the town also has many culverts that need work.
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solemn pg 1 10-27-22
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captions:
Respect
Bugler Tyler Eddy and two members of the American Legion Post 13 color guard pause at the end of the Beirut Barracks Bombing remembrance ceremony Oct. 23 in the Veterans Memorial Park in Putnam. Linda Lemmon photos.
Christopher Steinbrick places a white rose at the memorial wreath as one of the six Connecticut servicemen killed in Beirut in 1983 is read.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Ten years ago, as Kat Voght was walking 200 miles in remembrance of those American soldiers lost in the Beirut Barracks bombing in 1983, it occurred to her that “no one was walking.”
Voght decided she needed to do something. It didn’t deserve to be forgotten.
She asked Willie Bousquet, director of the town’s Parks and Recreation Department, for advice. He thought some sort of remembrance was a great idea and connected her with the late Don Steinbrick. “I remember walking away (after talking with Steinbrick) and thinking ‘he’s cranky and a curmudgeon’ but he was wholeheartedly behind the idea. We became fast friends,” she said. The late Richard Tremblay was also a huge help. She called them “guardian angels on my shoulder.”
Initially, 10 years ago, the remembrance was a candlelight vigil at Rotary Park. She said the American Legion Post 13 and others have taken up the ceremony which is now a solemn event at the town’s Veterans Memorial Park on Bridge Street.
“It’s not just a remembrance but an education,” she said. The bombing killed 241 and wounded 150 other Americans. “It was the single largest attack on our military since Iwo Jima,” she added. She said she asked her son, Marine Robert Voght 2nd, if he knew about the bombing from school. His answer was no. It’s not taught in schools. He learned about it in Marine training.
Steinbrick’s son, Christopher, picked up the gauntlet, spearheading this year’s ceremony. Because he had the flu, Ronald P. Coderre stepped in as emcee and read Christopher’s speech. Veterans from Putnam read all 241 names and when they read of the six veterans from Connecticut who were killed, Christopher placed a white rose. Putnam is one of only two towns in Connecticut which honors those killed/wounded in the Beirut Barracks bombing.
In his address to the 75 in the park Oct. 23 Putnam Mayor Barney Seney, himself a veteran, said that Steinbrick had already had a Beirut monument created and it’s being held “waiting to be placed in the veterans park in about two years when the park is revamped.
“We can never forget. You can remember them,” he said.
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