Roundup
Centaurs
advance to
semifinals
The smile on the face of Woodstock Academy volleyball coach Adam Bottone was more than large on Saturday afternoon.
His third-seeded Centaurs had just blanked the No. 6 Guilford Grizzlies in a Class L state tournament quarterfinal match.
It means Woodstock is among the final four volleyball teams in the state in Class L still playing.
And the volleyball team is not alone — the girls’ soccer team got into the semifinals, too.
The girls’ soccer team on Thursday posted a 2-0 win over Masuk to advance to the semifinals.
Not only did the volleyball team join the soccer team in the semifinals, they will play in the same place at almost the same time on Wednesday.
Girls’ soccer will play seventh-seeded Sacred Heart Academy in Rockville at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday for the right to go to the Class L state championship match over the weekend.
The volleyball team will play 10th-seeded Bristol Central on Wednesday also at Rockville High School at 6 p.m.
Bristol Central upset No. 2 RHAM on Saturday night, 3-2.
“It feels so good,” said Centaurs senior Libero Cassidy Ladd of making the state semifinals. “We’ve been working so hard all season and during summer practices. Our goals were to win the (ECC) and the States. We lost in the finals in the ECC but we’re working really hard to make it to the State final. I think it’s going to happen.”
The Centaurs, for the most part, were in control against the Grizzlies.
Not only more aggressive, but also more inclusive as the outside, middle and opposite hitters all played a role in a 25-22 Woodstock victory in the first set.
Three players had four kills each in the first set as the Centaurs (21-4) spread the wealth around against the Grizzlies.
Outside hitters Izzy Mojica and Lily Bottone and middle hitter Mia Sorrentino each had four while fellow middle hitter Kaylee Bundy had two and a block and opposite hitter Vivian Bibeau added a pair.
Bundy added four kills and another block and Lily Bottone had six kills in the second set leading the Centaurs to a 25-19 win in the second set.
Lily Bottone (13 kills) and Mojica (nine kills) each had three in the third set where the Centaurs posted a 25-17 victory to move on.
Ladd had 12 digs on the back row and made several diving saves to keep points alive.
If there is something to work on- it’s behind the service line. The Centaurs could have made things even easier on themselves had their serve been more consistent.
In the first set, the Grizzlies trailed early, 10-5; four of their points were courtesy of Woodstock service errors.
The Centaurs committed 17 service errors in total, seven in the third set which prompted Adam Bottone to utilize Lillian Morgis and Alexa Delmonaco to get some consistency from behind the line.
The Centaurs advanced to the quarterfinal on Thursday with a 3-0 win over 14th-seed Cheshire in a second-round match.
In this case, it was the Centaurs who took advantage of the service woes of their opponent as the Rams committed 14 service errors, many of those coming late in sets at crucial times.
It meant Cheshire, similar to Woodstock against East Lyme in the ECC championship, could not establish much in the way of momentum.
The Centaurs were most concerned about Cheshire middle hitter Eva Catalanotto.
The senior got two early kills for the Rams (11-10) but Sorrentino caught up and began to challenge her, finishing with seven kills of her own.
Adam Bottone said, “.Eva had a massive stuff block on (Sorrentino) and we said to (setter) Sophie (Gronski), ‘Set her again.’ We got a pass where we could get it to her and she terminated it. She’s capable of doing that.”
Bibeau was effective on the opposite side as she delivered six kills, but more importantly, had 10 service points.
Lily Bottone paced the Centaurs with eight kills in the match. Gronski quietly had two strong matches with 39 assists against Guilford and 23 versus Cheshire.
Now, it’s Bristol Central standing in the way of the Centaurs and their desired destiny- a state championship match.
“Bristol Central has an outside hitter, Lily Kirk, who is a tremendous player and while their record isn’t really great, they play in a difficult conference against tough teams. It will be a challenge,” Adam Bottone said.
Boys’ Cross-Country
There was plenty to be happy about on Saturday for Woodstock’s Christian Menounos.
In one of his final high school cross-country races, Menounos shined.
The senior placed 21st in the New England cross-country championship and he did so in record time for a Woodstock runner.
According to boys’ cross-country coach Josh Welch, the 16 minute, 6 second finish was the best-ever performance by a Woodstock runner at Wickham Park.
“Christian ran a smart race. He gave himself room to move up through the pack and put himself in striking distance of All-New England (honors) by around the mile mark,” Welch said.
Menounos received that honor as the top-25 finishers earn All-New England status.
His teammate and classmate, Colton Sallum, also qualified and placed 54th.
He finished just 31 seconds off Menounos’ pace but was stuck in a large pack for much of the race.
Twelve runners finished within the 16:30-16:39 time frame.
“I felt good going into the race but I ended up getting swallowed in the pack which made my first mile real slow,” Sallum said. “The last two miles of the race was just about playing catch up, trying to make up some lost ground and moving up in the race.”
He did get a chance to kick late which got him past several competitors but had he found a bit more running room, he believed he could have done better.
Both will compete in the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals qualifier at the end of the month.
Prep Soccer
The Prep 1 soccer team finished up its regular season with a 5-0 victory over High Mowing School.
The Centaurs end with an 11-1-2 record and will be the top seed from the East in the Prep Premier League playoffs as they finished undefeated in league play.
Coach Owen Finberg said, “Suffering the first defeat of our two years of playing prep soccer here at Woodstock, it was more important to bounce back with a good performance and a victory. We scored early and scored often.”
The Centaurs got some help from their opponents.
High Mowing conceded an own goal early in the match but the Centaurs provided plenty of their own offense as well.
Daion Swan DeSilva scored off an assist from Richard Sarpong to make it 2-0.
“It’s great to finish undefeated (in the league), it’s my first. It’s a pleasure to be with this group. We’ve worked hard, executed and the results have been great,” Swan DeSilva said. “We controlled the game (Saturday), played our game and got chances. We could have had a bit more but I felt we played our own game.”
For Swan DeSilva, it was his sixth goal of the season. Jasper Cox added his third of the season off a feed from Zander Tidwell prior to the end of the first 45 minutes of play.
The defense did the rest as it posted another shutout.
“We were a bit unlucky to give up a goal to Pennington on the set piece. Besides that, we’ve been shutting out teams with regularity here after the first few weeks of the season. That’s what it’s about if you want to win championships. If you limit a team’s ability to score goals, you always have a chance,” Finberg said.
The Centaurs added two more goals in the second half with the help of some Prep 2 players.
Tommy Broderick scored off an Oscar Pearman assist and Rodrigo Herruzo Blazquez added one with help from Broderick.
The Centaurs move on to the Prep Premier League quarterfinals on Saturday.
The quarterfinal round is an addition to the league playoffs this season. The Centaurs will play High Mowing again.
The other quarterfinal in Windsor will be Northwood School against Hoosac School.
The Centaurs, provided they advance, will go to New Jersey on Nov. 22-23 for the semifinals and finals.
Prep 2
Speaking of scoring early and scoring often, the Prep 2 soccer team did that on Saturday in the Global Education Sports Partners League semifinals.
The Centaurs dropped Putnam Science Academy handily, 7-1.
“We scored six goals in the first half which is excellent. It’s good and it makes it really easy to play the second half when you are up, 6-1,” senior Tommy Broderick said.
Broderick was in the thick of things as he was involved in three of the first four goals.
Prep 2 coach Todd D’Alessandro said of Broderick: “He never stops running. He’s great in the press and is really impressive on his runs into the box. He was involved in so many moments and chances for goals (Saturday).”
Broderick scored two of them off assists from Nico Ochoa and Giovanni Farina and assisted on a Farina goal. Sophomore Shihab Juman added a pair of goals, Fabian Crespo had a goal and an assist and Obama Ngarambe had a goal off a corner.
The Centaurs will head to the Day Hill Dome this coming weekend to play either Hoosac School or St. Thomas More for the league title.
Woodstock has had its battles with the St. Thomas More as the two teams tied, 2-2, on Sept. 28 and the Chancellors prevailed, 1-0, on their home field.
Football
The football team returned to the field on Friday night and had a pretty good first half in Ledyard.
Unfortunately, the Centaurs could not keep up the momentum in the second and fell to the Colonels, 35-14.
The Centaurs (2-6, 0-3 ECC Div. II) fell behind the hosts early, 14-0.
Woodstock fumbled the football on its own 19-yard line in its first possession and Ledyard pounced on it.
Senior Anthony Adamick put the Colonels on the board first when he rumbled in from 12 yards out.
Ledyard forced a Woodstock punt and the Colonels put together a drive that culminated in an Adamick to Jackson Hayward 7-yard pass that put the Colonels (5-3, 1-2) up by a pair of scores.
But the Centaurs did respond. Logan DelFarno recovered a fumbled snap by Ledyard on the Centaurs 49-yard line.
Woodstock followed with a 13-play drive that ended when freshman quarterback Caydem Herlihy (11-for-15 passing, 125 yards) hit Alec Nunes for a 6-yard score.
The Centaurs took advantage of another Ledyard miscue as they recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Ledyard 34.
Two plays later, Herlihy found Griffen Bloom (3 catches, 80 yards) for a 34-yard score.
Coach Sean Saucier said of his team’s rally to tie the game: “On both sides of the ball, we had to adjust to Ledyard’s speed. We did make some adjustments and then you started to see our linebackers taking better pursuit angles and just figuring things out. (Ledyard), literally, runs two running plays and you can start to figure them out.”
Unfortunately, the momentum shifted back to Ledyard quickly.
The kickoff sailed into the end zone, giving Ledyard the ball on its own 20.
Adamick took the snap out of the old-fashioned single wing that Ledyard runs, found a hole on the right side and ran down the sidelines for an 80-yard score and a 21-14 Ledyard lead at the half.
Ledyard got two more scores in the second half.
Calvin Casavant found Hayward open for a 24-yard touchdown pass and Adamick punched another one in from 21 yards out.
There were some other positives for the Centaurs as senior Kyle Grist went from lineman to H-back and caught three passes for 20 yards to help Bloom and Nunes (five catches) in the receiving department.
“Griff had a great game catching the ball and Kyle switched from No. 57 to 44 making him eligible and he made some catches which was really neat to see. Guys stepping up in different positions as people get hurt,” Saucier said.
Woodstock plays its final game on its home turf at noon Saturday as it hosts Montville in the Senior Day game.
The Centaurs will play a home game on Thanksgiving Day against Killingly but it will again be played at Nichols College in Dudley.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Woodstock Academy seniors Colton Sallum, left, and Christian Menounos were all smiles after the New England cross-country championship race. Photos by Joe Banas/Woodstock Academy.
In his first game as an H-Back, senior Kyle Grist caught three passes for 20 yards in a 35-14 loss on the road at Ledyard. Photo by Abby Ditzel/Woodstock Academy.
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