Roundup
Volleyball team qualifies for States
The first team of the spring to qualify for state tournament play from Woodstock Academy is boys’ volleyball.
The Centaurs, in their second year as a program, picked up their eighth win of the season with a 3-0 victory over Cheney Tech to qualify.
They went on to improve to 9-3 on Friday with a shutout victory over Capital Prep.
“Very happy,” coach Adam Bottone said. “Midway through the season, I would have liked to get it one game earlier than we did but that’s OK, we’re there. This was my goal last year, ‘let’s just make it to the state tournament’ and now that we have qualified again and knowing the personnel on the team, the expectations are a little higher.”
Brayden Bottone had nine kills while Evan Chernik added six. Christian Hart contributed 13 digs and Owen Budd had 15 service points.
The Centaurs opened the week with their second consecutive match that went to five sets.
Unlike a loss to Putnam the Friday before, the match with SMSA in Hartford went the Centaurs way.
Woodstock pulled out a 15-12 victory in the fifth set for the 3-2 victory over their hosts.
“I’m glad the win over SMSA ended the way it did. We’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. It’s like we have a bunch of type-A personalities out there, they all expect everything to be perfect on the court. While we can strive for perfection, that’s not the reality. The guys beat themselves up a little too much when things do not go their way and I think it has a ripple effect on their individual play,” Adam Bottone said.
Bottone (13 service points, four aces) and Budd each had 15 kills. Jake Henderson had a season-high 37 assists and Chernik added 11 kills and 17 service points.
“It was a rough one against Putnam but Putnam worked hard and I definitely thought it deserved that win. Coming back in the next game right away, going to another five setter and being down 2-1 and being able to battle back showed some resiliency,” Adam Bottone said.
Despite qualifying for the States, there is still plenty of work to be done as the Centaurs had nine regular season matches left going into Friday’s home match with Capital Prep.
“Spring is a whirlwind with vacation and all the senior things coming up, (advanced placement) testing and getting ready for graduation ,plus all sorts of projects. Everybody is finishing up but it’s a lot,” Adam Bottone said.
Soi much so that he didn’t even have his team practice for Capital Prep on Thursday, thinking a little rest might be more valuable to his team.
“I never do that but they’re tired,” Adam Bottone said.
It didn’t seem to bother them as the Centaurs easily pulled out a 3-0 victory by scores of 25-3, 25-8 and 25-4.
Chernik was dominant from behind the service line with 23 points and 14 aces. Budd, Brayden Bottone and Nathan Billings had five kills each.
Girls’ Tennis
The space at the top of Div. II in the ECC girls’ tennis standings is pretty crowded currently.
The division has four teams and three of them, Woodstock, Killingly and Ledyard all share the same divisional record, 2-1.
“We are on a diligent path to win the ECC and we will not be happy until it is secured,” said first-year head coach Dena Cocozza O’Hara.
Woodstock made it two wins in a row and three in the last four matches with a 6-1 victory on Wednesday over Lyman Memorial.
The win, their second in two days, improved the Centaurs record to 5-3.
The Centaurs swept the singles with Wynter Worth and Kerrigan Reynolds both finishing with 6-0, 6-0 wins. Gianna Musumeci and Mary Oliinyk also prevailed in singles play.
Kate Bruce and Madilyn Ead had a tough battle at third doubles as they survived for a 6-7, 6-4, 10-7 marathon win.
Delilah Kesselman and Catherine Trudeau won in straight sets at second doubles.
Earlier in the week, the girls’ tennis team pulled even with a 4-3 victory over Ledyard.
Worth posted a 7-5, 6-3 victory at first singles and Musumeci was a 6-2, 6-4 winner at second singles for the Centaurs. Abby Budd and Linnea Barlow captured a victory at first doubles as did Trudeau and Kesselman at second singles.
“We are being very humble and working on things each day until we meet Killingly next week and Ledyard the week after,” O’Hara said adding that what they have been concentrating on most is staying calm and not rushing points.
Boys’ Track
Outdoor track teams don’t get many chances to win at home. Heck, they don’t have many chances just to host a home meet.
The boys’ team was hoping their sole home meet of the season would end with a win but Fitch had other ideas. The Falcons headed back to Groton with an 84-65 victory over the Centaurs.
Nine points had to be added to the Fitch score as the host Centaurs had to forfeit the high jump.
The presence of several wasps in the padding for the pit forced the cancellation and, by rule, the visiting team gets the points if that occurs.
“I was never overly fond of bees to begin with,” coach Gerry LaMontagne said. ”It’s a tough rule especially under the circumstances but what can you do. It’s one of those things you have to deal with and try to overcome”
Even the wasps could not change the fact, however, that this was the only home meet for members of the Woodstock Academy boys team and the only time, they would get a chance to perform in front of friends.
“It was nice to run a meet where we do all of our training, the home field advantage type of thing,” said senior Colton Sallum.
For Sallum and teammate Christian Menounos, it was also the last time they would suit up on their home track.
“It feels weird for this to be the last time out here,” Menounos said. “Four years I’ve been doing this and I’m grateful to the Woodstock Academy, the coaches here, for helping me out the last four years. It’s kind of surreal that it has all come to an end.”
Menounos started as a distance specialist.
On Wednesday, he finished as a sprinter.
And he ended in fine fashion, with a personal best 51.32 second time in the 400-meter.
“The plan coming into this today was to win. I was trying to get some points for the team in sprints and I was happy with the p.r. in the 400. It was a close race, too, but that home field advantage came into play. On the last stretch, I saw all the kids I go to school with and that gave me the extra push I needed.”
Menounos also ran the anchor leg in a winning effort for the 4x800m relay team.
Owen Williamson picked up a pair of victories as he finished first in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.87 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 45.21 seconds.
Eli Manning was also a two-event winner as he captured the shotput and javelin and was also third in the 110 hurdles.
Sallum ran a season best in the 1600m, an effort he needed as he just slipped in with a first-place finish.
“In all, I saw a lot of guys supporting each other and lots of great attitudes,” said LaMontagne. “We came up short under unfortunate circumstances but I appreciated the effort of the whole team.”
Girls’ Track
The girls’ track team put itself in position for another ECC Div. I regular season title as they improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the division with a 105-44 win over Fitch.
“It will be interesting” said track coach Josh Welch. “We had a great meet against Fitch. I would like to say we were firing on all cylinders, we’re getting there, but there is still room to improve. NFA will be a super-exciting meet, it will be cool to have it at home and I hope we get some support out there.”
The Centaurs have some time to drum up that support as the meet does not occur until May 14.
There were a lot of first-place finishes for the Centaurs against Fitch with Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain winning the 800m and javelin and she was also a member of the winning 4x400m relay team.
Juliet Allard won the 300m hurdles and 200m and was also second in the 100m where she finished in 12.3 seconds, just a tenth of a second off the record still held by Debbie Clark who best it back in 1983.
“She is doing a fantastic job this season. Her 100-meter time wasrocket ship fast. That was cool to see,” Welch said.
Elise Coyle was tops in the 400m and long jump; Olivia Tracy took first in the 1600m, was also a member of the winning 4x800m team and was second in the 800m individually.
Avery Plouffe was best in the shotput; Ella Lidonde won the triple jump; Finnley Syphers took the pole vault and Lily Morgis was the winner in discus. Morgis also placed second in the javelin.
Syphers improvement in the pole vault could be key against NFA which, traditionally, has been able to sweep the event.
“It would be nice to have someone score some points in there and break them up which I think we could right now and that’s fantastic,” Welch said.
A win over the Wildcats would give the Centaurs divisional title for a third year in a row.
“I’m super-excited because there is such a different vibe at home. We know our circle, we know how it goes,” Plouffe said of the home meet. “Being at home for NFA gives us peace of mind because we know our track.”
Allard agreed. “Our track is very windy and we are used to working on it like a resistance workout. I don’t think they will be used to that so we will have an advantage there for sure,” the senior said.
The key against NFA? Perform well.
“We have to have everyone really hitting, at least, close to their top level of performance. We had a couple of hiccups wit some athletes (against Fitch), a clipped hurdle here, a not-so-sound handoff there. That’s going to have to be smooth and everyone has to healthy,” Welch said.
The Centaurs did want to get a little more in the way of competition in with a week and a half off prior to the Norwich Free Academy meet so they traveled to Middletown on Saturday and took part in the Middletown Invitational.
Emma Weitknecht now owns the school record in the 100-meter hurdles for girls’ track. The junior finished fourth in the event at Middletown in 15.12 seconds which also qualified her for Nationals. The finish bested the previous school record owned by Bella Sorrentino by just over a second.
D’Alleva-Bochain also qualified for Nationals and finished first in javelin with a throw of 122-feet, 4-inches. Allard finished third in the 300-meter hurdles in 46.27 seconds and qualified for Nationals in the event. She also joined Weitknecht, Coyle and Lidonde for a fifth-place finish in the 4x100m relay in a season’s best 50.3 seconds.
Plouffe placed second in the shotput.
Baseball
After a rough start, the baseball team is making a valiant attempt at righting the ship.
The Centaurs picked up their first ECC Div. I win of the season.
It came on the road as the Centaurs downed Norwich Free Academy, 10-2.
The Centaurs had been slogging through a rough time offensively, but started to turn things around with a 14-run game against the Tourtellotte/Putnam co-op early in the week and followed that up with another double-digit effort against the Wildcats.
“It’s a 20-game process,” said coach Connor Elliott. “You are going to have slumps during the year and it doesn’t really matter when they come. It shows that the work we have been putting in is paying off but it’s a process and we know that. We’re just trying to get better every dsay and it’s nice to see it pay off.”
The host Wildcats did jump on Centaur ace Brady Ericson early.
Two singles and a walk were followed by another base hit off the bat of Avery Guernsey which plated two in the bottom of the second.
But the big lefthander settled down and did not allow another hit, never mind another run, through the sixth inning.
His teammates helped him out in the top of the third when the Centaurs pushed eight runs across the plate.
“The energy was great and that’s where it starts, the energy and intensity in the dugout. We didn’t get down and there was Bradley Blair, the bottom of the order, setting things up for the top of the order,” Elliott said.
Bradley Blair led off with a double and Cam Nason bunted his way aboard.
Caleb Simoneau cut NFA’s lead in half with an RBI single.
The shortstop has been tearing the cover off the ball, hitting .542 with nine runs batted in.
“He’s such a competitor. When he stays within himself, tries not to do too much and when he does that, he’s more than good enough for this team. He’s seeing the ball, hitting line drives, hitting with power and not striking out that much,” Elliott said.
Two walks later, Hayden Maloney stepped to the plate and got the third free pass in a row to push the tying run across.
Matt Hernandez sent a ball to short that resulted in a two-run fielder’s choice to put Woodstock Academy ahead to stay. Will Bushey followed with a two-run double and he later scored on an error. Nason capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.
The Centaurs finished with only seven hits with Blair being the only player to finish with two. Hernandez finished with three runs batted in despite not having a hit.
The Centaurs picked up where they left off from early in the week as they also produced double-digit runs in a 14-0 win over the Putnam/Tourtellotte co-op in a game at Murphy Park in Putnam.
The non-divisional ECC victory ended a five-game losing streak for Woodstock.
Simoneau had four hits in four trips to the plate for the Centaurs while Tanner Graham contributed three hits and two runs batted in.
Hayden Maloney, Kyle Grist and Colin Ericson all drove in two runs each to back the pitching of Bushey, Will Ellsworth and Blair who combined on a four-hit shutout.
“It’s better at 4-5,” Elliott said, going into Saturday’s game at Maloney. “It doesn’t feel good but you can win five in a row or lose five in a row, it doesn’t matter when they come, it only matters at the end of the season.”
The week did not end on as positive a note as the Centaurs saw their record dip to 4-6 overall with one of those types of losses they would probably love to have back.
The Centaurs fell to Maloney in Meriden, 5-4, giving up the winning three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Tied at two going into the seventh, Simoneau and Graham both drew two-out walks. Simoneau stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error which allowed Graham to get to third. Graham would also score on an error to give the Centaurs the 4-2 advantage. But three singles, a walk and an error gave Maloney what it needed to pull out the win in the bottom of the inning.
Matt Hernandez had two runs batted in for the Centaurs.
Girls’ Lacrosse
It may feel early in the high school spring athletic season but most teams have already reached the halfway mark or beyond.
That means year-end activities are either right around the corner or happening now.
The girls’ lacrosse team had one of those activities on Thursday as the Centaurs celebrated Senior Day with a 7-2 win over Killingly.
Prior to the match, the Centaurs recognized their five seniors; Maggie Marshall, Kaelyn Tremblay, MJ Castaneda, Abby Converse and Abby Houle.
“We’re going to miss them tremendously,” said coach Heather Miller. “This is only my second season with these girls but it’s very much like family. I have two boys so, sometimes, my players are like my daughters. There are moments where I am definitely their coach but there is a ‘Momma Bear’ sense to it. The strides that these girls have made in the very short time that I have known them is very rewarding and inspiring to see. They’re such great leaders as well.”
Sometimes, Senior Day can serve as a distraction for a team. The Centaurs didn’t let that happen against Killingly.
The home team held a 2-1 lead at halftime thanks to goals by Kaylee Saucier (2 goals, 2 assists) and Tremblay.
Converse, Marshall and Saucier then each added a goal in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the thirds quarter to give the Centaurs a solid 5-1 lead.
Converse finished with two goals and Olivia Manbeck also scored for the Centaurs.
Clara Dowdle added two assists and both Emma Forcier and Stella Puchalski also had assists.
The Centaurs finished up a busy four-match week on Saturday in Ledyard where they saw their record dip to 3-7 overall and 2-4 in Div. II of the ECC with a 13-6 loss to the host Colonels.
Saucier had three goals while Dowdle added two and an assist. Puchalski had a goal and an assist and Baylee Rosinski and Converse added helps to the effort.
The girls’ lacrosse team came up with some positives in the postgame despite a 10-3 loss to Montville at the Bentley Athletic Complex earlier in the week.
“There is always a positive in games. I know a lot of people judge teams in sports by the scoreboard. So if we can pull some positives out of the three phases of the game, the offense, midfield and defense, especially with back-to-back games, where we won’t be able to work on things in between, you have to use the game you just played as momentum going into the next game,” said Miller.
The return of senior goalie Houle certainly was a bright spot.
Houle was injured to start the season which left freshman newcomer Grace Audet in goal for the Centaurs. The two can now share the duties as Houle is being phased back into the lineup.
“Her being a captain and a senior builds not only her confidence but also lets her teammates know that she is there for them. She’s been very excited to be back and we’re excited to have her back. She made some beautiful saves (against Montville),” Miller said.
Woodstock did get goals from Rosinski, Saucier and Marshall and two assists from Dowdle in the loss.
Montville was helped by the play of goalie Katie Koning who made 11 saves.
Woodstock Academy hosted Stonington in its Lax2Live match on Tuesday.
The Bears came up with seven goals in the second half to record the 13-4 victory.
Dowdle had two goals and two assists while Saucier and Converse also scored and.Marshall added an assist for Woodstock Academy.
Girls’ Golf
The week started just like the previous one had ended with a win over Suffield. The Centaurs had to go on the road to do so this time as they downed the Wildcats 223-230 early in the week.
Reagan Scheck finished with a 48 while Lily Moran carded a 54.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, the momentum of the win did not carry into their tri-match with Coventry and Norwich Free Academy on Wednesday.
The Centaurs slipped back to the .500 mark at 4-4 despite finishing with a very respectable 196 total.
Coventry, a team coach Earl Semmelrock thinks will have to be contended with in the state, took home a pair of non-league victories as the Patriots finished with a 186 total.
Aly Stenz, the fourth player for Coventry, led the Patriots with a 44 with Mazie Cox (46), Gabriella Neves (47) and Nicole Sierakowski (49) all finishing under 50.
Scheck led the Centaurs with a 44 while Moran added a 47and Bella Mawson finished with a 51.
Woodstock did slip to 2-2 in the ECC as NFA recorded a 190 total for the six-stroke victory.
Caroline Goderre was medalist for the match with a 38 for the Wildcats.
Softball
The softball team has had a couple of shutouts thrown against them, but for a first time this season, they were able to turn the tables on someone else.
The Centaurs blanked St. Bernard in Uncasville, 4-0.
“That was a great win,” said first-year head coach Hannah Burgess. “Having a shutout against another team was really exciting and a no-error game as well was also nice to have.”
Grace Delsanto wasn’t overpowering in the circle.
She only struck out two but allowed only six hits and two walks and went the distance to record the win.
“She pitched wonderfully,” Burgess said. “She had control over where she was putting the ball. I was calling the pitches and she was putting them right there.”
Junior catcher Ellary Sampson continues to be a dominant offensive force for the Centaurs.
Sampson is hitting .625 with 15 runs driven in for the Centaurs and two of those came in a four-run fourth for the Centaurs against the Saints.
Faith Sortwell, Ella Chitmanotham and Maci Corradi all delivered one-out singles to load the bases.
Campbell Favreau knocked one in with a single to center and Sampson followed with another bullet up the middle to plate two more with a double.
“It’s just like every time she comes up, I think she’s getting on base which is a great feeling to have,” Burgess said.
There were other games that the Centaurs would probably like to cast aside.
The Centaurs were coming off as tough loss earlier in the week to Norwich Free Academy, 17-0 and on Saturday, they fell on the road to Killingly, 20-2.
Delsanto drove in the only two runs for the Centaurs.
The results left the Centaurs with a 5-6 overall record and a 1-4 mark in Div. II of the ECC.
Boys’ Lacrosse
A couple of big days on the offensive end helped produce a pair of victories for the boys’ lacrosse team.
Dylan Phillips and Corey Lafond both finished with eight points on Saturday as the Centaurs rolled past Norwich Tech 16-6.
Phillips had four goals and four assists while Lafond added three goals and five assists.
The win raised the Centaurs record to 4-5 overall just over the halfway point of the season.
Camden Marshall also had a strong outing against Norwich Tech as he finished with a hat trick while Gunnar Basak and Logan DelFarno had two goals each.
A dozen players got into the scoring column for the Centaurs when they doubled up on the Montville/Killingly/Hale Ray co-op on Thursday, winning 16-8.
Basak had a big day from the ‘X’ against the Wolves as he circled around to the front of the net and put the ball in on five occasions.
Basak added an assist while Lafond had three goals and three helps and Phillips added a pair of goals and two assists.
Logan Rumrill, Phillip Feanny, Seamus Coleman, Marshall, Patrick Griswold and Cam Robida also had goals for the Centaurs.
Earlier in the week, the Centaurs hung in there against Stonington but saw the host Bears score four times in the fourth quarter to post a 12-7 victory.
Basak led the Centaurs with two goals and three assists while Phillips added two goals and an assist and Lafond had a goal and two assists.
Boys’ Tennis
The boys’ tennis team moved to within a game of Montville in Div. II of the ECC with a convincing victory over Norwich Free Academy on Thursday.
The Centaurs blanked the Wildcats, 7-0 to improve to 2-1 in the division where the Wolves sit on top with a 3-1 mark.
Ryan Chabot posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory at third singles to highlight the effort of the singles players. Tyler Chamberlin, Adriano Peniche and Ashley Abrams also posted straight set victories.
The doubles teams also posted straight set wins for the Centaurs.
Woodstock then surged over the .500 mark for the season as it posted a 6-1 victory over New London on Saturday in an ECC non-divisional match to improve to 5-3 on the year.
Chamberlin, Chabot, Abrams and Carlos Rodriguez all posted straight set singles victories and the Centaurs got a pair of forfeit victories from the Whalers in doubles.
Earlier in the week, the first doubles team of Heath White and Cayden Worth pulled out a 7-5, 7-5 victory at the Pomfret School indoor courts to give the Centaurs boys tennis team a 4-3 decision over Lyman Memorial.
Peniche and Abrams won their singles matches and the second doubles team of Owen Murdock and Daniel Jameson also captured a hard-fought, three-set win.
Boys’ Golf
The week ended on a high note after a not-so-great start. The boys’ golf team improved to 3-2 with a 6-1 win over Windham on Thursday.
It was not as easy as it may sound as seniors Logan Rawson and Jayden Fuller both split their matches with their opponents.
Rawson and Nick Valliere of the Whippets both shot identical 37’s to get a half a point and Fuller did the same with Windham’s Jorge Sanchez-Aleluya as both carded a 41.
That left it up to the other three players to come up with the decision and they delivered for the Centaurs.
Aidan O’Connor shot a 39 and both Max Kopp and Luke Thompson finished with a 43 to not only give the Centaurs the three individual match points but the two points for the aggregate score as the Centaurs finished with a 160 total.
That was a 24-stroke improvement over Monday where the Centaurs combined for a 184 in a 6-1 loss to Norwich Free Academy.
Kopp was the only player to get a point for the Centaurs, who fell to 0-2 in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference, as he finished with a 46, one stroke better than his opponent.
Rawson paced the team with a 45 while O’Connor finished with a 46.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Eli Manning: Woodstock Academy junior Eli Manning shows off his winning form in the shotput in a boys track meet against Fitch on the Kelly Field on South Campus of Woodstock Academy last week.
Baylee Rosinski: Junior Baylee Rosinski tries to impede the progress up field of a Montville player in a girls lacrosse match last week at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Owen Williamson: Woodstock Academy’s Owen Williamson clears the last hurdle en route to a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdle event for the Woodstock Academy boys track team versus Fitch last week.
IMG 1769: Woodstock Academy senior softball pitcher Grace Delsanto threw a shutout against St.Bernard last week. Photos above by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.
Senior Day
From left: Abby Houle, Abby Converse, MJ Castaneda, Maggie Marshall and Kaelyn Tremblay were recognized on Senior Day for the Woodstock Academy girls’lacrosse team. Photo by Mei Syriac/Woodstock Academy.
2025 girls track: The seven Woodstock Academy girls track athletes who won medals at the Middletown Invitational Saturday gathered in the Middletown gym during a delay due to lightning. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
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