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Roundup
Centaurs
volleyball
team off to
a good start
After a nice run into the Class L quarterfinals a year ago and seven seniors returning, five of whom play a lot of minutes, this could be a very good year for the Woodstock Academy volleyball team.
“It’s kind of the team that we have been building for a long time. We had a great run last year and we should be in a place where we make a serious run again,” Centaur coach Adam Bottone said. “I’m optimistic that this is the team that can get deep into the postseason if not to the state championship game and a lot of people around the state, many coaches that I know, are thinking that about us so we also have that pressure on us along with the pressure they put on themselves and the pressure to apply for college, etc.”
While the Centaurs are off to a 2-0 start, because of those lofty goals, not everything is hunky-dory right now.
The Centaurs have posted a pair of 3-1 wins over Coventry and Wilton.
It was a battle with the Patriots despite a 25-17 win in the first set. Coventry, the defending Class S champ, captured the second set, 27-25.
“It hasn’t been pretty at times,” Bottone said. “The chemistry is still not quite there, the passing still isn’t great.”
The Centaurs rallied for 27-25 and 25-19 wins in the third and fourth sets to capture the win.
Against Wilton, the Centaurs posted a 3-1 victory.
They used the same playbook, win the first set 25-17, lose the second 25-18, only to rebound and post 25-20 and 25-12 wins in the third and fourth sets.
While the service line was not always kind to Woodstock, it also provided the momentum against the Warriors as senior Sophie Gronski put together nine straight service points in the fourth set to give the Centaurs the win.
Gronski finished with 29 assists and six aces which followed a 47-assist performance in the win over Coventry. Cassidy Ladd provided some good defense against the Patriots with 24 digs while Liliana Bottone had 16 kills and eight aces.
There was more balance in the win over Wilton with senior Izzy Mojica getting nine kills, Liliana Bottone and Kaylee Bundy added seven kills each.
Adam Bottone is happy with the team’s versatility.
It’s not just different people stepping up at different times, it’s also players able to step up in different places.
“We started Lily and Mia (Sorrentino) outside (against Wilton) with Kaylee and Vivian (Bibeau) in the middle and Izzy on the right. In the second set, we moved Kaylee to the outside and Mia to the middle and then we went Lily and Izzy on the outside, Vivian on the right and Kaylee and Mia in the middle. They adapt really well to that. We have a lot of flexibility with what we can do which is something I’ve never had before,” Adam Bottone said.
The Centaurs will play their first home match on Monday against Griswold before going on the road to Fitch, Plainfield and East Lyme.
Football Preview
Centaurs get their season started this week. Most teams played their first game last week.
Football was not among them.
The football team has to wait until noon on Saturday to get its season going and it will do so against a team that it has little familiarity with.
Bassick is a Bridgeport-based school out of the Southern Connecticut Conference.
“I love it. It’s exciting,” coach Sean Saucier said of the opening game against an unfamiliar opponent. Being at home at the Bentley will be an advantage, Saucier said.
There will be plenty of changes for the Centaurs after a three-win season a year ago.
Teddy Richardson has graduated which leaves senior Sam Clark at quarterback.
Clark completed 17 of his 33 passes a year ago and rushed for 129 yards before going down with a season-ending injury.
Clark has also worked with a quarterback coach over the offseason to work on his throwing technique.
He will have some different targets to throw to as Lucas Theriaque (29 catches, 504 yards), Jacob Lizotte (16-166) and Henry Wotton (15-150) have all moved on.
A newcomer to the game, Cam Nason, will be joined by senior Dom Lafleur, sophomore Griffen Bloom and a freshman, Kadem Herlihy will be the new go-to guys.
“(Herlihy) played quarterback for our first scrimmage when Sam was out and he had some really positive plays. He has great hands and he is just a football player. You can put him anywhere and he has crept his way in,” Saucier said.
Gabe Luperon will be the primary running back. He finished with 209 in 59 carries a year ago, Saucier would like to see him reach 1,000 this season with Dylan Phillips at H-Back.
If there is a concern for Woodstock, it may be depth.
That usually affects a team most along the lines.
“I believe there are 50 names on the roster which isn’t terrible, we usually have between 50 and 70 so we’re on the bottom end of the range but we only have two teams, so it’s enough. I would always welcome more but the depth is a slight issue. We’re not as deep as we would like to be in certain spots,” Saucier said..
The football team experienced some injury and discipline troubles in the preseason but they’re past it now.
For instance, the Centaurs now have six players battling for five spots on the offensive line.
Cayden Menor right now anchors the line at center with Ryder Chaput and either Henri Bessette or Abdullah Choudhry at guards. Kyle Grist and Jacob Say are the tackles with Aiden Brailsford at tight end.
On the defensive side, Say and Brailsford will be at the ends with Brock Swabbe likely in the middle at noseguard in a 3-3-5 alignment.
Grist, Clark and Phillips will be the primary linebackers.
Alec Nunes, Aidan Soukaloun, Luperon, Nason and Bloom are the starting defensive backfield for now.
The Centaurs will be a part of Div. II in the ECC alongside Ledyard, Waterford and Windham. It gets them out of Div. I.
The Centaurs would like to do better than a year ago when they had just three wins and, in Saucier’s mind, underachieved.
“I’m very confident that if we can maintain our health, we can surpass that three-win total,” Saucier said.
Boys’ Cross-Country
For one more year, Woodstock boys’ cross-country coach Josh Welch has the joy of watching Christian Menounos and Colton Sallum run in the blue and gold for the Centaurs. And it could be a breakout year for the two seniors.
“We just finished our time trials and Christian and Colton both came in a minute ahead of where they were last season,” Welch said.
That could put them both into elite status, at least, on the eastern side of the state.
Menounos placed third in the ECC championship race in 16 minutes, 44 seconds, just 15 seconds behind the winner, East Lyme’s Sean McCauley.
Sallum was on his teammates’ heels, finishing just 29 seconds later in seventh.
The two both cracked the top 10 at the Class MM state championship with Menounos in fifth and Sallum ninth.
“I think (Menounos) has a chance to win it this time,” Welch said.
Menounos went on to finish 14th in the State Open championship, a race Welch believes he has a chance to be in the top five.
Both Menounos and Sallum were impressive in a preseason warm up on Friday.
The Centaurs traveled to Wallingford to compete in the Nuebauer Invitational.
Menounos crossed the finish line first and Sallum came home fourth to lead the Centaurs to a first-place finish in the 12-team field.
The event was run on a 4500-meter course, well short of the 5000-meter required for regular season and championship meets.
The Centaurs will not have some of the complementary runners this season as both Charlie Caggiano and Joel Koleszar have graduated.
Sam Greene and Lucas Hecker are in the three and four positions currently with two returnees, sophomore Bronson Eddy and junior Harrison Durand, also part of the top five mix.
The Centaurs have their old course back. Woodstock will be practicing at and running their one home meet of the season behind the Woodstock Fairgrounds in the horse show area.
“I can’t wait to be back there. That course is ideal. It’s as close as we will get to having a course like the (Eastern Connecticut Conference) championship or Wickham Park course. It does a lot for us. I’m really looking forward to racing there. There is also a history there. I used to love running that course and I enjoy walking it with other teams who are not big fans of having to run the hills. It gives us a wonderful home field advantage,” Welch said.
The Centaurs will host Fitch, Killingly and the Rectory School on Oct. 1.
The ECC might not be winnable as East Lyme just has another wagon coming back.
“They may be unbeatable in the conference,” Welch said. “I think we have a good shot at being second behind them in the ECC’s. It’s doable. It will put us up there in the States as well and we have an outside chance of getting the boys to the Open as a team.”
Girls’ Cross-Country
Last year, Joe Banas was trying to just recruit a few more runners so he could have a team.
He feels a lot better about his girls’ cross-country team this season. “This team will be respected in the (ECC). Last year, we weren’t especially after Kira (Greene) got injured and missed over half the season,” he said.
It left the Centaurs with about 2 ½ varsity runners in Banas’ estimation.
This year looks a lot more promising.
Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain comes over from soccer and the junior will make a difference.
She completed a recent time trial in 21 minutes, 24 seconds.
“She can do things in such short periods of time, she’s already our No. 1 runner unless something crazy happens between now and the beginning of the season (the Centaurs open at Ledyard on Tuesday),” Banas said. “She throws the javelin 125-feet after a week, holds the school record in the steeplechase, is quite the basketball player and she pounded Pulpit (Rock Road) in our time trial. It’s been three years since a female has done that. She put a hurting on it.”
The Centaurs did lose Julia Coyle, the top runner from a year ago, but Olivia Tracy returns for her senior year after a 21st-place finish in the ECC championship a year ago.
In addition to D’Alleva-Bochain, the Centaurs have another runner who may make some noise.
Sophomore Nova Almquist moved to Brooklyn from Virginia and was just eight seconds behind Tracy in the time trial.
Melanie Dipippo and Ella Peterson did round out the top five in the Pulpit Rock run but Kira Greene has a lot of upside if she can remain healthy.
The Centaurs Friday traveled to Sheehan High School in Wallingford for the Neubauer Invitational.
The event was a 2.79-mile or 4500-meter warm up event.
The Centaurs finished second out of 11 teams led by D’Alleva-Bochain who finished fifth overall.
As expected, Tracy was next across the finish line for the Centaurs followed by Almquist.
The league meets begin next week with Banas making a bit of a surprise pick for the team to beat.
In his mind, it could be Lyman Memorial.
Field Hockey
The Centaurs are still looking for elusive first win of the season. Heather Miller came to Woodstock this past spring as head coach of the girls’ lacrosse team.
Because of that, she had thought she would know a lot of her players in this, her first season as head coach of the field hockey team.
“I don’t know as many of them as I thought I would. There are very few but it did help that I know some,” Miller said.
The Centaurs were unable to field a junior varsity team. Miller said she’d rather have one solid, full squad rather than two squads that are more mediocre.
Offensively, the Centaurs have Grace Pokorny and Clara Dowdle returning with Abby Converse holding the center together, playing either midfield or back depending on the situation.
Pokorny was the team’s leading scorer a year ago with four goals and four assists while Dowdle added two goals and three assists.
The team, however, produced just eight other goals and that is something that Miller is working on, trying to find some chemistry to raise those numbers.
The big thing for the group up front, and the team as a whole, is working together and passing well which is why they came out of the pregame huddle for their first match against Lyman Hall with a one-word shout, “connections.”
“It’s our game focus and right now, we’re just trying to connect with our passes and receiving., connect with our communication,” she said.
Audrey MacPherson will anchor a young backfield. “We’re very green,” Miller said. “When it comes to knowledge, skill and cohesiveness, so it’s going to take a lot of work. A lot of these girls have not picked up a field hockey stick since last week, that’s when they picked it up for a first time ever. We have three or four girls who really know the game, but the rest are green.”
Liz Roberts and Kaylyn Converse will be in the cage for the Centaurs.
Woodstock opened the season against Wallingford and they opened a 4-0 first quarter lead on goals from Hailey Speranza, Kaylin Findley, Jordyn Pollio and Olivia Shim.
They extended that lead to 5-0 at the half en route to the 8-1 victory.
Eight different players scored for Lyman Hall.
Dowdle scored the only goal for the Centaurs off an assist from Pokorny.
Against the Bears, the Centaurs hung in but could not find the back of the cage in a 6-0 loss.
Woodstock gave up a goal in the first 19 seconds but the goals did not come fast and furious for Stonington (2-0).
The Centaurs hung in, giving up just one other first quarter tally, two in the second and one each in the third and fourth quarters.
Lizzie Roberts had 10 saves for the Centaurs.
The defense continued to limit the goals against when the Centaurs took on Somers on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the offense could not get untracked again and the Spartans posted a 4-0 win to drop the Centaurs to 0-3.
What Miller wants to establish before the end of the season is a little cohesiveness.
“I want the girls to be tougher, not be afraid. Field hockey is a very aggressive sport and you can get hurt. That stick and the ball hurt and you have to be low on the stick. It’s not for the faint of heart, you have to have grit and toughness, you can’t be afraid to go to the ball. The courage to do that, to build their confidence and to see them come together,” Miller said were her goals for her inaugural season as head coach of the Centaurs.
Boys’ Soccer
St. Jean takes over Centaurs boys’ soccer program. Dave St. Jean seemingly has been an assistant coach for every season at Woodstock Academy.
Last year, he helped Paul Rearden with the boys’ soccer team; Donte Adams with boys’ basketball and Brad Favreau with softball.
Now, he has a program to call his own.
And he’s familiar with those who are involved with it.
When Rearden stepped aside recently, St. Jean decided it was time to be a head coach for a change and took the helm of the boys’ soccer program.
Jason Tata comes over from lacrosse to serve as an assistant coach for the team along with Gary Rawson.
The debut could have been better — the Centaurs lost in Somers, 7-2. That was followed by a second loss, 4-1, at Berlin.
“Somers was in incredibly great shape. You could see they had been in the weight room over the summer. They were bigger, faster, stronger than we were and we played on turf. We’ve been practicing on grass so that may have had a little to do with it,” St. Jean said.
The Centaurs did put a couple of balls into the net with senior Garrett Bushey (2 goals, 2 assists in 2023) and sophomore Matt Johndrow (4 goals, 3 assists a year ago) each getting a tally. Johndrow also scored the only goal on a penalty kick against the Redcoats on Saturday.
“We’re pretty balanced offensively,” St. Jean said. “The addition of Derek (Rodriguez Arenas, a sophomore who had an assist versus Somers) was huge. We still have Garrett and Matt fortunately and still have Austin Byer (a senior who was the team’s leading scorer a year ago with 5 goals and 3 assists) and (senior) Matt Hernandez sees time up there. We’re pretty loaded up top.”
Defensively, despite the high amount of goals the Centaurs yielded in the first match, St. Jean is not all that concerned.
“The depth is something that we’re working on. Our starters just have to get used to playing. They have been playing in some different positions so we’re just looking to establish some continuity,” St. Jean said.
Senior Eli Susi returns in goal along with junior Nate Couture.
Susi, Hernandez and senior Riley Wilcox all were forced from the contest with Somers due to injury, leaving the Centaurs with only about 15 healthy varsity players.
Bushey, Logan Rawson and Hernandez will serve as captains for a team that features nine seniors including Shawn Mugagga, Gabe DePierdomenico, and Michael Susi in addition to those already mentioned.
Can the Centaurs eclipse last year’s win total of two matches?
“I hope so, they want to,” St. Jean said. “We’ve talked a lot about things that stopped them from winning a year ago and we’re working on those things such as bad habits that we’re trying to nip in the bud. We’re trying to have disciplined practices, play to our skill and have a great season.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
2024 Woodstock Academy volleyball – The Woodstock Academy volleyball team will be led by seven seniors this season including (front, from left to right), Izzy Mojica, Sophie Gronski and Madeline Jezierski and rear (left to right) Liliana Bottone, Jacqueline Dearborn, Mia Sorrentino and Cassidy Ladd. (Photo by Adam Bottone/Woodstock Academy)
2024 football – Woodstock Academy football coach Sean Saucier addresses his team in an early-season practice at the South Campus turf. The Centaurs open the season Saturday at home against Bassick. (Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy)
2024 Boys Cross Country – The Woodstock Academy boys’ cross-country team gets an early chance to celebrate as it took home the championship trophy from the Nuebauer Invitational in Wallingford on Saturday. (Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy)
2024 girls cross-country – The girls cross-country team celebrates at the Neubauer Invitational after a second-place finish in the 4500-meter season-opening event. (Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy)
Converse 1 – Woodstock Academy senior Abby Converse tries to track down the ball in the season-opening field hockey game against Lyman Hall at the Bentley Athletic Complex. (Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.