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Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer coach Paul Rearden was hopeful that the momentum the Centaurs built Oct. 18 was going to carry over into Saturday.
It did.
“Coming on the heels of (Friday’s) game, it was a big ask for them to compete at that level again. But they came out of the blocks flying,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs finished in a 1-all tie with Auburn Oct. 18, scoring a goal in the final three minutes.
Oct. 19, they scored the first goal in a match at Coginchaug Regional in Durham and again finished in a 1-all deadlock.
The two ties gives the Centaurs a 1-8-2 record.
“It would have been nice to win (the Coginchaug match) after the tie Friday but the boys were saying, ‘This is what we need,’” Rearden said.
Unfortunately, the Centaurs will need a little more than that to qualify for the Class L state tournament.
The Centaurs had five matches left coming into the week and needed to win them all to make the postseason.
“We just have to worry about winning the next game. If you look too far out, you tend to trip over things because you’re not looking at what is in front of you. We just have to keep up the performances,” Rearden said. “Look at the positive, we were undefeated (last) week.”
Nothing is impossible.
Rearden pointed out that Coginchaug shutout Valley Regional recently, 3-0, and the Warriors were a 4-0 winner over the Centaurs.
“Soccer has a weird way of falling. You can’t take anything for granted. We have a head of steam now and we just hope we can use it,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs had plenty of rest coming into the week.
Their last match was on Oct. 7 before they returned to the field on Oct. 18 in Auburn.
The Rockets opened a 1-0 lead early when they scored just 15 minutes into the match, even though Rearden thought Woodstock Academy had the better of the play in the first half.
The second half was similar with neither team having a very good chance.
The best for the Centaurs came off the foot of Logan Talbot who struck the cross bar with a shot.
But with three minutes left, the Centaurs finally caught a break.
Woodstock Academy’s Andrew Johnson was taken down in Auburn territory.
“The after effects of that challenge was still bothering (Johnson Saturday),” Rearden said.
So, the Woodstock Academy coach thought it was only fitting that Talbot sent a ball into the area and senior Sean Rearden got his head on it and directed it into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
The Centaurs followed up that last-minute game saver with an early goal on Saturday in Durham.
Paul Rearden thought his team played a very good first half and could have easily been up by multiple goals.
Instead, they had to settle for the one-goal advantage.
Leading scorer Eric Phongsa scored his fifth goal of the year off an assist from Huck Gelhaus.
The Centaurs had Coginchaug in retreat and their defense was trying to make a stand inside the penalty area.
Coginchaug tried to clear the ball but Gelhaus won the 50-50 ball and headed it back in the direction of Phongsa.
“Fantastic finish,” said Paul Rearden. “Eric just made a great turn and rifled one in. A spectacular goal.”
The Blue Devils tried to respond early in the second half but the Centaurs defense was staunch.
Coginchaug (10-2-2) finally tied the game with 25 minutes left. A Blue Devils’ corner bounced into the middle of a crowd, finally finding Coginchaug’s Kevin Ryan who found the back of the net.
The efforts may not have produced wins, but that didn’t bother Paul Rearden.
“Two really unbelievable performances against two good teams,” the Woodstock Academy coach said. “I’m really pleased for the boys. Sooner or later, if you keep working, you will start to get the breaks.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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