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Commits
Senior Guerin Favreau will continue to pursue his lacrosse dreams at Endicott College. Photo by Woodstock Academy.
Committed
Senior prep basketball player Raymond Espinal-Guzman has committed to play Division I basketball for Sacred Heart University. Photo by Marc Allard.
Two seniors from The Woodstock Academy made their collegiate choices known recently.
Guerin Favreau will continue his lacrosse playing career at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass.
Centaurs prep basketball player Raymond Espinal-Guzman will play Division I basketball for Sacred Heart University in Hamden next season.
“The biggest thing that attracted me to Endicott was its location,” Favreau said. “Boston is a great place to be and Endicott provides that. It also has a very prestigious lacrosse program and I want to play at the highest level I can.”
Favreau has been a standout in both lacrosse and ice hockey at Woodstock Academy.
He had 23 goals and 17 assists as a sophomore for the Centaurs.
His junior season fell victim to the pandemic.
Favreau also shined in hockey where he scored 33 goals and had seven assists for the Centaurs as a junior.
“I knew for a long time it was going to be lacrosse but I am very upset to see hockey go. I hope I can continue to play in some form during college,” Favreau said.
He added that making the decision just two months into his senior year at Woodstock Academy takes a weight off his shoulders.
“It’s a huge relief knowing where I’ll be for the next four years already. A lot of students don’t decide until their end of their senior year so it’s pretty cool that I already know,” Favreau said.
Espinal-Guzman is a native of Cranston, R.I., and is in his year at Woodstock Academy.
The 6-foot, 8-inch guard/forward said his decision to attend and play for Sacred Heart was based, in part, on similar considerations that Favreau had including not straying too far.
“It was close to home so the people that love me the most will be able to watch me play,” Espinal-Guzman said. “(Sacred Heart coach Anthony Latina) is very good and known for developing players. He is one of the top coaches in college basketball.”
Espinal-Guzman becomes the first member of the newest crop of Centaurs prep basketball players to commit to playing at a school at the next level.
Woodstock Academy coach Jacque Rivera said the guard/forward had interest in schools not only from the Northeast Conference but as high as Atlantic-10 schools.
“We’re most excited that this young man gets to go on to a post-secondary school for free,” Rivera said. “I think he’s unbelievably versatile. He can step out. He can shoot. He can put it on the floor a bit and he can be versatile at that level. He can play some inside, some outside and, as he continues to go through out strength program with coach (Brenden) Osatszewski, he will get stronger. I think it’s an opportunity for him to go and play right away.”
Rivera said the pandemic and all the issues that surround it has not changed the Academy’s focus when it comes to sending basketball players to the next level.
“It’s about finding the right fit and what makes sense for them. With the limited movement right now, we’re able to have more conversations. It’s important more than ever that athletes choose a college with the new NCAA rules (as soon as possible) but it does not make sense if it’s not the right fit,” Rivera said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy