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New leadership, new excitement. Youthful enthusiasm.
It poured out of Jason Tata when he talked about the Woodstock Academy boys’ lacrosse team’s first scrimmage against Ledyard early last week.
“I love what I’m seeing,” Tata said. “There is the intensity factor that these kids are bringing and I love that. Talent can only bring you so far. You need that drive and that intensity. The talent is here, but we also have that intensity x-factor.”
He hasn’t been away from it for too long as a player.
The Marianapolis prep grad played lacrosse for four years for the Knights before moving on to play at the Division II level for the University of New Haven.
So he returned to his alma mater and coached for three years in Thompson before the opportunity presented itself to be a head coach at Woodstock Academy.
Tata takes over for Michael Noel who led the Centaurs to an 8-9 record when they last played in 2019.
Favreau finished with 43 goals and 29 assists, the leading scorer for the Centaurs as a sophomore in 2019 before being forced to take a year off from the game due to the pandemic.
“I’m pumped especially with not having a season last year. It’s a big change coming on to the field this year,” Favreau said.
Tata said he feels bad for those seniors who never got the chance to play last year and for the current crop of seniors, many of whom are unlike Favreau, missed out on a key year to be recruited to play in college.
“I want to give these guys an opportunity to play at the next level and losing that (junior) year hurts,” Tata said.
Tata said he will rely on his captains, Favreau, Scheuritzel, Gabe Geyer and Colin Liscomb for leadership.
All told, the Centaurs have 11 seniors on the turf this season.
The seniors will see their share of playing time but Tata is also working with his sophomores and juniors, looking toward the future.
Tata has been happy with what he has seen both offensively and defensively, but he is also clearly impressed with Liscomb, who was named second team All-State as a hockey goalie, in net for the Centaurs.
The Centaurs will be playing a rather normal schedule with games against mostly Southeastern Connecticut teams who comprise the majority of Division 1 boys’ lacrosse in the ECC.
“We want to win games, but more importantly, I want these guys to become a family. I want that brotherhood.” Tata said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.