- Details
- Category: Current Issue
caption:
Tally 1st Point
Woodstock Academy freshman Mila Ganias, left, tallied her first varsity point for the Centaurs in a 3-1 loss last week to E. Lyme. Photo by Marc Allard.
Academy soccer team splits the week
Woodstock Academy had pressured the Killingly goal throughout the 10-minute overtime period but nothing had found its way to the back of the net.
But freshman Juliet Allard changed all that will 1 minute, 50 seconds left to play as she swept in from the right-hand side.
She took a pass from junior teammate Grace Gelhaus and launched it to the upper left-hand corner, eluding the leap of Killingly keeper Aryn Nisbet and giving the Centaurs a 3-2 win last week.
The week, unfortunately for Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team, didn’t end on as high a note. It saw its record fall to 2-4-1 overall and 1-1 in Div. I of the ECC with a 3-1 loss to E. Lyme.
“I knew we had to get that goal, we needed this win and I just saw my chance and struck it as hard as I could,” Allard said of her game-winning goal versus Killingly.
It was Allard’s fourth goal of the season. The other three came all at once, a hat trick in the 5-0 win over Fitch on Sept. 13.
The goal came at a good time. The Centaurs had lost their last two matches to Plainfield and Cumberland (R.I.).
“I think for the confidence of a young team, it will help. I think we’ve said every halftime that we’re close with this team; we’re just a little younger. We have to settle down and play with a little more confidence, control the ball and not chase it against bigger kids and we, finally, got a win,” said coach Dennis Snelling.
It was also the Centaurs third overtime contest in the first six matches of the season.
The Centaurs went up on Killingly 17 minutes into the match when Gelhaus got loose and launched a ball from about 25 yards out that also soared over Nisbet’s head and found the net.
Going high was the best way to attack the Killingly keeper who made 15 saves as the Centaurs outshot Killingly, 23-10.
Killingly tied the match with just over six minutes left in the first half when it was awarded a direct kick from just outside the box. Emma Carpenter converted it to give Killingly the momentum going into the half.
Killingly then went up on the Centaurs when Makala Dube attacked the Centaurs net from the right and took a page from the Woodstock Academy book, going high into the left corner to elude the outstretched hands and body of Centaurs sophomore keeper Rebecca Nazer (5 saves).
Killingly held on to the lead for 15 minutes until Gelhaus worked some more magic, sending it some 40 yards in the air into the back of the net for her fifth goal of the season.
Snelling said with the shorter goalies, “if you have someone who can hit one from 35-40 yards away and put it just under the bar, it’s almost impossible to save. It’s almost impossible for a taller goalie to get to if she hits it right.”
Gelhaus got her sixth goal of the season later in the week against E. Lyme, scoring just 15 minutes into the match.
Freshman Mila Ganias assisted on the goal which held up through halftime. But the Vikings scored three times in the second half to record the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..