Senior pg 9 9-19-19
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Ready to Pass
Senior Hallie Saracina, who stepped in as emergency goalie for a day, gets ready to pass the ball to a teammate after making a save against Valley Regional. Photo by Marc Allard.
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The Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team had a little quandary to deal with Sept. 14.
Starting goalie Rachel Holden was not available for its home opener against Valley Regional.
“We needed to fill the spot; we couldn’t play with an empty goal. I didn’t want to ask a freshman to play their first game on a varsity field against a team with the size that (Valley Regional) had. It looked it would be scary for a young kid,” said Centaurs coach Dennis Snelling.
Enter: Hallie Saracina.
“I probably haven’t played goalie since pee-wee soccer,” Saracina said. “I’m a senior. I felt like it was an opportunity for me to just push my team. All I wanted to do was win.” Saracina turned aside eight shots from the Warriors and pitched the shutout, leading Woodstock Academy to a 2-0 win.
It evened the Centaurs record at 1-1 after a 5-3 loss to Plainfield.
To prepare for her debut, Snelling worked with Saracina on goal techniques for about an hour in practice Sept. 13.
He also worked with her on getting to high balls. That proved invaluable as Saracina had to knock down not one, but two, Valley Regional shots that were destined for the upper corner to her left in the first half.
The efforts of Saracina were rewarded by her teammates when they finally broke a scoreless tie with a goal by junior Lucy McDermott 62 minutes, 10 seconds into the game.
“I saw (Emma Redfield) coming up the right side with the ball and I knew she was going to have a strong, hard cross. I was in the right place at the right time and just hammered it with my (right) leg into the goal,” McDermott said.
Snelling is expecting a lot from McDermott this season. He said she came into tryouts looking “superior” to her old self. “I think Lucy is going to be one of the top offensive players in the (ECC) this year,” Snelling said. “She scored her first varsity goal as a freshman two years ago just 12 seconds into her first varsity action. “We’re still seeing that out of her,” Snelling said.
Woodstock Academy added a little insurance with less than 10 minutes to play when Hallie’s sister, Peyton, scored her second goal on assist from Adeline Smith.
The victory took away some of the sting from the loss to Plainfield in the season opener. Redfield, freshman Grace Gelhaus (her 1st career varsity goal), and Peyton Saracina scored in the loss for the Centaurs. Kayla Gaudreau, Peyton Saracina and Gelhaus added assists.
McDermott said the season-opening loss to Plainfield may have been a good thing because it did show the Centaurs what they had to work on.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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