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Soccer team
clinches tie
for title; in
for States
It was a great week for the Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team.
It guaranteed itself a Class L state tournament berth early in the week with a 7-0 win over Fitch and followed that up Oct. 21 by clinching, at least, a share of the ECC Div. I regular season title with a 2-1 win over NFA.
“We set a goal to just improve and now, every day, we have to come up with a new goal because we’re better every day,” said coach, Dennis Snelling. “We went from let’s compete for the Div. I title to we might just have won it. We just want to keep going with whatever games we have left whether it’s the ECC or state tournament.”
The Centaurs owned a 4-1 divisional record coming into the week, a game better than both NFA and E. Lyme who are both 3-2.
The Centaurs finished up Oct. 24 with a game at E. Lyme (that ended too late for this edition).
The win meant it took the Div. I title for itself.
An E. Lyme win meant the ECC had to break out its tie-breaking formulas as all three teams would likely finish 4-2 in the division with the Centaurs beating NFA twice, NFA beating E. Lyme twice and the Vikings beating the Centaurs twice.
The Centaurs took a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats Oct. 21 when Grace Gelhaus scored an unassisted goal with 1 minute, 55 seconds left in the first half.
The Wildcats tied the match. Then, disaster nearly struck.
Junior keeper Rebecca Nazer collided with an NFA player 14 minutes into the second half. Snelling had to turn to freshman keeper Ellary Sampson.
The freshman did not allow a goal and with 16:12 left in regulation, her efforts were rewarded as senior Gabby Couture scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The team waited until the final match last season before officially punching its ticket.
The win over NFA raised its record to 7-4-2 but clinching a state tournament berth actually came the match before in the win over Fitch.
Woodstock wanted to get out of the box quickly against the Falcons.
Keeper Grace Jenkins proved formidable for Fitch in the first half, making six saves including one on a penalty kick by Freya Robbie to keep the score within reach early.
The Centaurs did get on the board 9 minute, 29 seconds into the contest when Leah Costa delivered a ball to Gelhaus’ left foot right in front of the net and Jenkins had no chance.
Woodstock then survived three good scoring chances by the Falcons to take a 2-0 lead 18 minutes later.
A determined Couture scored her first goal of the season when she took a point-blank shot at Jenkins on the right side of the net. The Fitch keeper stopped it but could not contain the rebound which bounced right back to Couture. She got her right foot on it again and this time, lifted it over Jenkins and just under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead.
The goals came fast and furious in the second half.
“We had a conversation (at the half) about how good we were playing. We played well, just needed to keep our composure and we were doing everything perfectly fine like passing the ball and just needed to do more,” Costa said.
The Falcons also employed the offside trap which the Centaurs fell into a couple of times in the first half.
The start of the second half, however, showed what was to come — Gelhaus just 1:59 into the second 40 minutes.
The senior now has 10 goals and seven assists on the season.
Costa followed just 1:44 later when a bit of fancy footwork forced Jenkins to commit and the sophomore slipped it into the net for her seventh goal of the year.
Costa transferred in from Stonington this year and feels more than accepted.
Juliet Allard took a pass from Costa with 27:45 left to make it 5-0 and Isabella Selmecki finished things up with her third and fourth goals of the season within five minutes of each other.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.