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Top: The Woodstock prep soccer team was ready to go prior to its match with PSA. Above: Sophomore Abby Converse (33) tries to line for a shot at the E. Lyme cage. Photos by Marc Allard.
Missing two key players and taking on an undefeated team finally got the best of the Woodstock Academy volleyball team.
But it took a while. The Centaurs played five sets for the fourth time in five matches and fell just short to the 7-0 Griswold Wolverines, 3-2, Sept. 30.
It was a small setback for the Centaurs who celebrated earlier in the week.
The Centaurs (8-2) picked up that all-important eighth win of the season and improved to 2-1 in Div. I of the ECC with a 3-0 win over Fitch Sept. 28.
The win qualified Woodstock for a Class L state tournament berth.
“It’s a blessing for sure considering last year,” said coach Adam Bottone whose team won just five matches last year. “I don’t want the girls to get comfortable and think it will be easy from here on out. We still have a lot of work to do especially with a couple of players out and players learning new roles.”
The Centaurs had to work hard for the win over the Falcons. They posted a pair of 27-25 overtime victories in the first two sets and finished with a 25-21 win in the third.
Mia Sorrentino got the start and put down 15 kills. Morgan Bonin added six kills and four digs while Sophie Gronski contributed 24 assists and six digs.
Nothing has come easy for the Centaurs of late. Early last week, they were taken to five sets for a third consecutive match. And for a second time, they were successful with a 3-2 victory over E. Lyme.
The marathon matches, the one with the Vikings took over two hours to play should pay dividends in the future for Woodstock.
Woodstock edged past the Vikings, 15-13, in the fifth and decisive set to post the hard-earned victory.
E. Lyme won the first set, 25-21, but the Centaurs took the second 25-21 and third, 25-16. E.Lyme forced the tiebreaker with a 25-14 victory in the fourth set. E. Lyme had defeated the Centaurs twice last season.
Bonin had 22 kills and eight digs to lead Woodstock, playing mostly the outside hitter role. Liliana Bottone added 13 kills, 13 digs and five aces and Gronski tossed in 35 assists and 17 digs.
Griswold won the first two sets, 25-16 and 25-23. But, even with their backs against the wall, Woodstock fought back. The Centaurs won the next two sets, 25-20 and 25-19. But Griswold jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the fifth and final set and held on for the 16-14 win to keep its spotless record intact. Gronski had 26 assists and 23 digs in the loss while Bonin and Sorrentino each had 11 kills.
Boys' Soccer
For the first time since 2018, the Woodstock boys’ soccer team prevailed over Stonington, 1-0, early last week.
The Bears won the Class M state championship a year ago and had come into the match with the Centaurs sporting a 5-0-1 record.
But the Woodstock defense stifled the Stonington offense.
“The defense played excellent and it wasn’t just the defensive line but it was the entire team. We played defense by committee. Our forwards kept Stonington pinned in. Garrett (Bushey), Austin (Byer), Jeff (Phongsa) and Max (Ferreira) just wouldn’t let them out. When you have to play on the defensive side for the whole game- it gets difficult,” said acting head coach Jason Tata said.
The lone goal of the game came with just four minutes left when Ferreira picked up his second goal of the season.
Robbie agreed the defense has been playing well all across the field. Unfortunately, the ball also has to go into the net a few more times. That lack of offense reared its head later in the week when the Centaurs fell to 2-4-2 overall with a 1-0 loss in a non-league match at Berlin.
The host team scored a goal 12 minutes into the match and it held up.
Football
Woodstock acting head coach Connor Elliott wasn’t sure prior to the game with E. Lyme Oct. 1 whether or not a bye week as early as Oct. 8 was going to be beneficial. After a 20-7 loss to the Vikings, Elliott thinks the team may need it.
“We’re looking forward to the bye week. We have a lot to learn from this game definitely as a staff and we’re going to clean it up and move forward. We have to keep our heads up. The kids fought which is great and that’s not going away but we have to start playing better football and that’s what we’re going to do,” Elliott said.
The Centaurs (1-2, 0-1 ECC Div. I) had a chance early.
On the first possession of the game, Woodstock was forced to punt from its own 44-yard-line.
But Jacob Lizotte’s punt was mishandled by E. Lyme and the fumble was recovered by Centaur senior Trevor Savoie.
Savoie (12 carries, 39 yards) then got 13 yards on two plays from scrimmage and quarterback Teddy Richardson (13-for-24 passing, 143 yards) hit junior Lucas Theriaque for nine more to the Vikings 15.
A penalty against E. Lyme helped get the Centaurs down to the 6-yard line. That’s where they stalled and turned the ball over on downs.
The Vikings turned around and marched it down to the Woodstock 24.
They, too, stalled which led to a scoreless first half. But it would be the Vikings (1-3, 1-0) who scored first.
Aidan Patterson came out of the half and executed a drive that was all his own.
The running back, after the opening kickoff of the second half, went 61 yards to the Centaurs 11.
Three Patterson runs later, he scored from 4 yards out, just 2 minutes, 16 seconds into the second half.
Patterson finished with 237 yards in 29 carries for the Vikings.
Patterson also guided E. Lyme to its second touchdown, carrying the ball four straight times to the 21-yard line of Woodstock early in the fourth quarter.
After a 5-yard penalty against the Vikings, quarterback Ronan McNamara (6-for-11 passing, 61 yards) found Matt Leone on an out pattern to the Centaurs 2-yard line.
Two plays later, McNamara tried to take it himself, fumbled the football in the end zone but it was recovered by his teammate, offensive lineman Thomas Matlock, to give E. Lyme a 13-0 lead.
The Centaurs made it interesting just 21 seconds later when Richardson saw Brandon Nagle open in the middle of the field and, on the run from the E. Lyme rush, was able to connect with his receiver for a 52-yard touchdown.
After E. Lyme turned over the ball on downs at the Woodstock 31, the Centaurs had 5:13 left to try and tie or even take the lead.
But Woodstock also turned over the ball on downs at its own 46 and Patterson, on the next play, went the distance for the insurance touchdown.
Field Hockey
The Woodstock field hockey team hung in against E. Lyme Sept. 29. The Vikings scored only three goals in the first three quarters before getting two late for a 5-0 victory.
“We were moving to the ball better. We had a couple of breakdowns early. I felt like we played with them and were even with them for the first three quarters and each goal was a breakdown on our part,” said co-head coach Gerry LaMontagne.
Caroline Daugherty scored both of the first half goals for the Vikings (3-1-1, 3-1 ECC) while Violet Maziarz tallied in the third quarter to essentially put the win away.
Despite the loss for the Centaurs (2-6, 0-5), LaMontagne did see positive signs.
Goalie Ava Basak was solid in the cage, allowing only one second quarter goal despite six corners by the Vikings and finished with 10 saves.
Woodstock was coming off a match in which it did find the back of the cage, twice, but fell short to NFA, 4-2, early in the week.
Maggie Marshall scored off an assist from Ella Musumeci in the first half for Woodstock against the Wildcats and Caroline Harris tallied in the second half.
Prep Soccer
The Woodstock prep soccer team played its first Global Education Sports Partners League match and posted a 4-0 shutout victory over St. Thomas More early last week.
For the players, it meant a little more than just a win on the field.
It’s the first year for the league which also includes Putnam Science Academy, Hoosac (N.Y.) and Pathfinder FC soccer programs.
While the players were happy to pick up a league win, coach Joe Cherackel was more excited about how the Centaurs went about the task on the pitch.
It wasn’t easy. The two sides played to a scoreless draw in the first half. So, Cherackel opted to have his Centaurs look downfield a bit more in the second half. Just 7 minutes, 27 seconds into the second half, Jaume Sanahuja sent a ball over the top which found the foot of Jordi Sanabra.
Just 7 ½ minutes later, Manuel Marquez made it 2-0 and that opened the floodgates for Woodstock.
Saiz and Rodrigo Minguela both scored in the final 14 minutes of the match for the Centaurs. Saiz, also from Spain, controlled the midfield for the Centaurs.
Cherackel was also happy with the shutout pitched by his two keepers, Sten Lehmann (4 saves in the first half) and Mario Alvarez (3 saves in the second).
Sanabra and Saiz both have a unique perspective on the team as both played in the Centaurs inaugural season a year ago.
The Centaurs did see their league record fall to 1-1 Sept. 29 and 4-2-2 overall with a 3-1 loss to Putnam Science Academy.
Juanjo Menendez scored the only goal of the match for the Centaurs with 1 minute, 54 seconds left in regulation.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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