Woodstock pg 11 9-19-19
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Things didn’t go well from the start Sept. 14 for the Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer team.
It was par for the course so far for the squad.
Colin Smith, in warm ups, planted his foot and went to the ground.
Fortunately the injury didn’t appear to be serious, but he was unable to play for the day.
It was the beginning to a not-so-great day against Valley Regional who walked away from the Bentley Athletic Complex with a 4-0 win over the Centaurs. The loss dropped the Centaurs to 0-2.
But it’s a start that coach Paul Rearden has become accustomed to.
“Last year, we didn’t win our first two games either,” he said. “Learning curve. This might sound totally ridiculous, considering it was a 4-0 final, but we gave away two goals and, conservatively, we had five good chances in the first half, not so many in the second, but we should have come out with something. Give them credit; on the couple of chances they had, they made them.”
The numbers seem to bear that out. The Warriors took 14 shots, the Centaurs 13.
“We have to be tighter on defense, as a team, not just the defensive line. Do you learn from it? I did take a lot. Our first-half performance, I couldn’t fault. Two little mistakes gave the goals away,” Rearden said.
Cameron Frazier scored the first goal for the Warriors just 5 minutes, 55 seconds into the match off an assist from Evan Benson.
Just 12 minutes before the end of the half, Keenan Pinder found the net from a feed from Jake Burdick.
Valley Regional finished it off in the second half on a pair of goals from Ryan Shasha.
The Centaurs have only scored one goal in the first two games, but Rearden feels it could be much better.
They have been playing without the leading returning scorer from last season, Eric Phongsa.
Had one or two of those missed chances gone in, it may have led to more.
“It could be better,” Rearden said. “We just have to show some determination, show some backbone to recover from two tough results. This is a good set of lads, have a great attitude, they will bounce back.”
The Centaurs tried to mount a comeback but fell short and lost to Fitch in Groton, 4-1, in their season opener Sept. 12.
The Falcons took the 3-0 lead before Woodstock Academy was able to break through.
Logan Talbot was dragged down 30 yards away from the net.
His ensuing free kick found the foot of Sean Rearden who delivered it to the head of Huck Gelhaus.
The junior headed it into the top corner of the net to cut the deficit to two goals with 15 minutes to play.
Paul Rearden thought his team had pulled within a goal moments later when a Greg Weber header hit the cross bar and came down to the foot of Gelhaus who directed it home. But the goal was disallowed as it was ruled out of play after it hit the crossbar.
The Falcons put the game away when Sebastian Duffy completed his hat trick to give the Falcons the three-goal lead again.
Zach Roethlein started in goal and made five saves for the Centaurs.
The Centaurs took only seven shots at the Falcons’ net.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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