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Centaurs at Work
Right: Woodstock Academy senior Collin Manuilow (6) shields the ball from a Windham defender in a Centaurs victory over the Whippets. Above: Woodstock Academy junior Alyson Bunning tries to retrieve the ball for the Centaurs in a recent match. Photos by Marc Allard.
Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden likes where his team is going into the final three matches of the season. The Centaurs are 5-6-1 after losing a close one to Ledyard Oct. 16, 3-1. It means they need to win one of their last three to qualify for state tournament play.
“That’s the way I’m reading it. I think we’re in really good shape and if we play the way we did (against Ledyard), we can win our next three games,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs travel to Waterford Oct. 20. The match with Burrillville Oct. 23 is cancelled, leaving the Centaurs with a game against Bacon Academy Oct. 27 and a game at Plainfield Oct. 30.
The Centaurs fought hard against the Colonels (10-1) in an ECC Div. II clash.
“Sometimes when you lose a game, but you put in a performance the way we did (versus Ledyard), it doesn’t feel like a defeat. We had them rocking,” Rearden said.
Ledyard (4-0 ECC Div. 2) put the first ball in the back of the net in the first half and that was the halftime score. The Colonels made it 2-0 just 15 minutes into the second half. But 10 minutes later, the Centaurs (3-3 ECC Div. II) answered when freshman Austin Byer chipped it into Jeff Phongsa who played a soft ball into Ty Morgan. Morgan finished his fourth goal of the season into the far corner of the net.
Woodstock almost got the equalizer when Byer sent another ball into the area to Owen Tracy. Despite being at a tough angle, Tracy got the volley off and it struck the post and rolled down the line.
Ledyard finished off its win with a goal late in the game.
“I was really, really pleased. Everything we had been practicing, they put into action. It was our best performance of the season by a lot,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs walked away with an 8-0 victory over Windham. Noah Page got the Centaurs off to a good start against the Whippets (1-10, 0-5). Woodstock was awarded a penalty kick just 9 ½ minutes into the match and Page converted not once, but twice. It was ruled his first attempt had come before the official’s whistle to start play. So, Page, undaunted, lined up again and put it into the back of the net for a second time.
The Centaurs scored four more times in the first half. Max Ferreira found himself along on the right side of the goal and Phongsa found him with the ball for the 2-0 lead. Just three minutes after that, Ferriera was on the delivery end as he found Morgan with a pass for another Woodstock tally. John Bennett contributed on both of the last goals of the half as Ryan Odorski scored off a Bennett corner and Gabe Viau was the recipient of a nice cross from the freshman to make it 5-0 at the half.
Morgan and Odorski each scored their second goals of the match in the second half and Zach Roethlein, who started in front of the goal for the Centaurs, was allowed out onto the field and got the last tally of the day.
Girls’ Soccer
Woodstock picked up its fourth win of the season, blanking the Valley Regional Warriors, 3-0, in a non-league contest. The win raised Woodstock Academy’s record to 4-7-2.
“I’m proud of the team winning at Valley Regional, because that’s a strong club,” said head coach Dennis Snelling. “The team really played with great intensity and won a lot of tackles to keep possession of the ball.”
The Centaurs were dominant in the field, taking 17 shots to just four for the Warriors (4-5).
Junior Grace Gelhaus started the scoring for Woodstock. She picked up her ninth goal of the season halfway through the first half. Senior Ava Coutu then made it 2-0 with her third tally of the year. Then freshman Juliet Allard, off a Gelhaus assist, put home her sixth goal of the year.
The week did not start as well. The Centaurs lost to the NFA Wildcats 2-1. The loss dropped Woodstock to 1-2-1 in Div. I of the ECC. Gelhaus scored the only goal of the match. Rebecca Nazer made 10 saves in goal.
Volleyball
The Academy volleyball team’s varsity bench is gradually filling up again. But it has taken awhile and the time to catch up is just not there.
As a result, those teams who have been playing the entire season have a leg up on the Centaurs who fell to 2-12 overall and 1-4 in Div. I of the ECC with losses to Lyman, E. Lyme and Fitch, all by 3-0 scores, last week.
“The chemistry just has to come back,” said coach Adam Bottone. “It’s pretty complex especially since we just have never had the same group in the same positions on the floor this season. The consistency of the same girls in the same positions has been a problem.”
Unlike Lyman Memorial and Killingly, who like Woodstock, experienced issues with COVID, the Centaurs did not shut down the program to allow players to get healthy and then resume the season.
Instead, Woodstock postponed two matches and then returned to the floor with a skeleton crew of seven or eight players. It has led to seven consecutive losses.
That included a defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs who were playing just their eighth match of the season.
Lyman improved to 6-2 with a 25-20, 25-19, 26-24 win over the Centaurs.
Woodstock Academy led, 24-21, late in the third set only to see Lyman score the final five points of the match for the win.
Senior outside hitter Aurissa Boardman had eight kills against Lyman. Boardman missed a match with Conard on Oct. 8 due to an injury but has been cleared to play.
Boardman leads the Centaurs with 126 kills, 110 service points and 29 service aces this season.
Ellie Nunes, who has been sidelined since early in the season, returned for the Lyman match and finished with 16 digs. “It was good to see Ellie and Emily Goodell return at defensive specialist. It helped with our passing and kept us more competitive with East Lyme,” Bottone said.
The Vikings (10-2) won the first two sets relatively easily against the Centaurs down by the shoreline, 25-11 and 25-19.But Woodstock did rally in the third to make it close before falling, 25-23.
Boardman had six kills and seven digs while fellow senior Annarose Avery added five digs and four assists in the loss.
Fitch arrived late for the match Oct. 15 due to traffic troubles but that didn’t slow down the Falcons (11-2, 4-1) who won the three sets, 25-15, 25-22 and 25-18.
Boardman finished with 10 kills and Avery added 11 assists in the loss.
There is some good news.
The Centaurs also have Bella Sorrentino back and are expecting Leila MacKinnon and Lizzie Lovrien to return this week.
But that news was tempered a bit. In a case of one step forward and two steps back, junior Morgan Bonin suffered an injury in the East Lyme match and her return this season is doubtful and freshman Sophie Gronski was injured in the Fitch contest.
Field Hockey
It was supposed to be a three-game week for the field hockey team but the only game that was played was Oct. 16 when the Centaurs lost to Enfield, 7-0. The game with Waterford early in the week was scuttled by transportation woes. A match against Killingly Oct. 14 was postponed.
Ava Basak made 14 saves in goal for the Centaurs (1-7-2) in the non-league contest.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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