Roundup
Centaurs pick up a pair of shutout wins
The Woodstock Academy girls’ volleyball team finished off its ECC Div. I regular season schedule with a 3-0 win over Norwich Free Academy Friday.
But it wasn’t without its share of challenges. The Centaurs had posted a 25-14 win in the first set of the match but things didn’t go quite as planned to open the second.
Senior setter Lily Morgis had to be helped off the court early due to an injury.
Coach Adam Bottone just pointed to sophomore Phoebe Houston. The youngster came on and did as she was supposed to, delivering 15 assists for the remainder of the match.
“I have tons of confidence in Phoebe,” Bottone said. “The one thing that she does, and we’ve talked about a lot and she got called for it (Friday), is that she deep dishes it, she takes it pretty long. We’re trying to get her to take it a little higher. But she has the personality where she doesn’t get flustered at all when she goes out there; she’s just steady so I definitely have confidence in putting her out there.”
The Centaurs didn’t skip a beat as they held off NFA 25-20 in the second set and staved off a late rally by NFA in the third set to post a 25-21 victory.
“It was a team effort especially with Lily’s injury and Phoebe having to step in, she did a great job but it definitely mixed things up a bit,” said senior outside hitter Kaylee Bundy. “It’s difficult because the hitters are all synched up (with a setter) and you are used to being with that person and then you have to switch
someone coming in cold with no warmup and that can be a challenge but Phoebe did a good job and we finished up well.”
Bundy finished with 13 kills while fellow outside hitter Kennedy McCooey added eight and opposite hitter Vivian Bibeau chipped in with five.
Bottone said it’s one reason why he has tried to mix in Houston when possible.
“We mix things up a lot during practice and we go off of both setters. They definitely set a little different and we’ve talked about how the hitters need to pursue balls and I told Kaylee and Kennedy to remember that (Houston) doesn’t push out as far and to just expect that and hit in and I thought they adjusted pretty well.” Bottone said.
Morgis did sit out the rest of the match and will be further evaluated.
Gianna Musumeci had 24 digs in the match while McCooey and Bibeau each had 11 service points.
The win did come during the annual Dig Pink match for the Centaurs who improved to 12-5 overall and they finished up with a 6-2 Division I record, second to East Lyme.
“We would have liked to do better against East Lyme but I think if we come out with a little more consistency like (Friday), we can definitely give them a challenge (in the ECC tournament). We talked about the importance of this game prior to coming out on the floor because this was the last ECC divisional game and it keeps us as the No. 2 seed if we win and they responded. We came out with a lot of energy, a lot of fans and the Dig Pink event so I was happy,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs were coming off a 3-0 victory over Plainfield the day before in Central Village.
Musumeci had 24 digs and 14 service points in that effort while Bundy led the way with 17 kills.
Boys’ Cross-Country
The regular season came to an end for the boys’ cross-country team and it did so on a high note.
The Centaurs downed Norwich Free Academy, 21-37, to finish the regular season with a 4-1 overall record and a 3-1 mark in Div. I of the ECC.
“I thought it went really well,” said coach Josh Welch. “I think we did what we hoped we would accomplish. Ledyard and Fitch were tough meets but we were able to pull out wins by a little bit and we were happy with the win over NFA. Against East Lyme, we just wanted to make sure it didn’t look like we were not trying. We went in thinking we wanted to make them push and we did OK with that. One loss in the regular season is pretty fantastic.”
The Centaurs did give up the top spot to NFA on Tuesday but sophomore Lucas Hecker was second in 17:58. Not far behind was Sam Greene, Bronson Eddy and Harrison Durand in third, fourth and fifth respectively and Carter Mydlarz in eighth.
The ECC season is technically not over yet.
The championship meet, which will be held on Thursday at the Norwich Golf Course, does reflect in the overall divisional standings meaning the Centaurs have another shot at East Lyme although opponents also have another shot at them.
“I’m hoping to be in the top couple of teams,” Welch said. “I think East Lyme will walk away with it this year. We’re going to try and make sure they won’t walk away but they have a significant advantage. I think we can beat the rest of the teams if we have a great day and hope for a second-place finish although Ledyard, Fitch and Griswold may have something to say about that.”
The key, according to the coach, is how his team fares on a course other than their own. The Centaurs had three home meets this season at the Woodstock Fairgrounds and only one on the road.
“I think the kids are ready for some breakout times although we’re not quite seeing that development yet,” Welch said. “I think our course, how it is set up now, is significantly more challenging than Wickham Park and maybe even harder than the (Norwich) Golf Course. Realistically, we may have had three meets in a row on the toughest course that we will see all season.”
He felt like the team, therefore, was prepped going into the Wickham Park Invitational.
Run on the same course that the Class MM state championship will be run on in two weeks, the Centaurs, for scheduling purposes, asked to run in the Large School race on Saturday.
The team placed sixth overall, about where Welch had hoped as he knew they would have to have a “great day” to finish in the top-5.
Hecker led the way as he finished in 23rd in 17:31. Greene placed 30th with Eddy 41st and Durand 44th.
The biggest concern for Welch was not the finish but rather the times. Greene (17:54) also finished under 18 minutes while Eddy (18:11) and Durand (18:13) were, as Welch hoped, in the low 18s.
“I thought that was a course that we could let loose on and we’ve trained really well for. I think they established some great times for themselves. I hope that it builds their confidence and put it in their mind of what they are capable of walking into the ECC championship and States,” Welch said.
Girls’ Cross-Country
The home meets are over. That may not necessarily be an unwelcome event for the girls’ cross-country team.
It just completed a run of three straight meets on the home course at the Woodstock Fairgrounds with a 19-44 win over Norwich Free Academy.
Freshman Emelia Langevin remained undefeated at home as she strode across the line in 20 minutes, 56 seconds.
Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain and Claire Bruneaux led the rest across as the Centaurs captured the third through eighth spots to guarantee themselves the win.
The win meant the Centaurs finished 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the dual meet portion of the ECC Div. I season, the only loss, like the boys, was to East Lyme.
“We’re sitting where I thought we would be,” coach Joe Banas said. “Once I knew Anna (Konon) had come back from Germany, I knew (East Lyme coach) Mike (Flynn) had the frontrunner that he needed and he has a nice, young pack.”
Banas would like to see his Centaurs finish in the top three in the ECC Championship meet on Thursday at the Norwich Golf Course.
Langevin will also have another battle with her cousin, two-time defending ECC champion Hazel DeLucia of Lyman Memorial, at the ECC championship.
“I think it’s (East Lyme coach) Mike’s to lose team-wise and Hazel will get the No. 1 spot, I don’t see anyone near her. If Emme gets the second spot, that would be a nice family affair,” Banas said.
The golf course could be affected a bit by a predicted heavy rain, high wind event that is supposed to assault the area on Sunday, Monday and possibly Tuesday although Banas is not all that concerned.
He only recalls one time in his 16 years of coaching that the ECC championship had to be pushed back due to conditions.
“They were showing pictures of the little footbridge at the beginning of Mile 2 (at the Norwich Golf Course) and it was underwater. That would have meant it would have been a biathlon had we run it then,” Banas said.
He, like boys’ cross-country coach Josh Welch, believes the three meets the Centaurs had at the Fairgrounds will be beneficial for what lies ahead.
“I saw the NFA girls the other day and just during the walkthrough they were saying, ‘Oh boy.’ I told them that if they could finish this course, they could finish the ECC,” Banas said.
It might have proven out a bit on Saturday.
The Centaurs took part in the Wickham Park Invitational in Manchester and finished fourth as a team in the Large School race finishing behind the likes of cross-country powerhouses Glastonbury, Cheshire and Ridgefield.
Four of the varsity runners had personal bests with Langevin placing fifth overall in 20:01. Olivia Tracy was 36th (21:36), Bruneaux (21:39) 38th and D’Alleva-Bochain (22:01) 43rd.
“It was nice to have Emme having someone to chase after,” Banas said.
The goal was for Langevin to beat Windsor’s Maya Donzella.
It’s one of the few goals that Langevin has not yet reached this season as she fell just 12 seconds shy of Donzella at the Invite Saturday.
Prep Soccer
The Prep 1 and 2 soccer teams made their annual pilgrimage to Ohio over the weekend to play matches at Western Reserve Academy.
The Prep 1 squad improved to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Prep Premiere League with a pair of victories.
The Centaurs shutout host Western Reserve Academy, 4-0, on Sunday to make the long trip home a little more pleasant.
Alex Tevez scored a pair of goals in the win while Richard Sarpong, the team’s leading scorer, added his eighth goal of the season and David Cho also scored. Jeongbin Lee, Alexavier Gooden and Nicolae Velicico added assists for the Centaurs.
Woodstock rallied from an early deficit to defeat Andrews Osborne Academy, 3-1, on Saturday.
Gooden, Sarpong and Lee scored for the Centaurs with Ozzie Pearman recording two assists and Velicico adding one.
The Prep 2 team played a pair of matches in Ohio over the weekend.
Those came after a league battle at home against St. Thomas More.
On Saturday, just like the Prep 1 team, Prep 2 had to bounce back from an early 1-0 deficit to University School and posted the 3-1 victory in a match played at Western Reserve Academy.
Victor Schougaard, Mac Gallagher and Mark Maruyama had the goals in the win for the Centaurs. Fabian Crespo, Jaehee Kim and Matias Solano had the assists as the Centaurs improved to 7-3.
On Friday, the Prep 2 team opened the trip with a 2-0 win over Spire Academy.
Jaehee Kim scored both goals and Penrose Ayeyei added an assist.
Earlier in the week. the Prep 2 team raised its record to3-0 in the Global Education Sports Partners League.
The Centaurs posted a one-sided victory over the Chancellors of St. Thomas More, 6-1, Wednesday.
Six different players scored for the Centaurs with Maruyama and Crespo recording both a goal and an assist. Nico Ochoa, Luca Passinha Braz, Schougaard and Antonio Amado added goals while Jacob Gollop and Kim had assists.
Girls’ Soccer
There are two matches left for the girls’ soccer team in the regular season. The mission is pretty clear. The Centaurs have to win them both if they want their season to continue past the ECC tournament.
Woodstock saw its record slip to 3-8-3 with a 2-0 loss to Bacon Academy Friday.
“We have to win now. We’re trying to take it one at a time and I’ve been trying not to put the pressure on but that’s a fact. We have to win both if they want a season after the ECC tournament. That’s on them to decide. We’ll see,” said coach Andrea Danforth.
The Centaurs have time to work on the specifics. They are off for a week as they next play at Norwich Free Academy at 5 p.m. on Friday prior to hosting Plainfield the following Tuesday in their Senior Day match.
The Centaurs lost to NFA on Sept. 29 in a match that they had led, 1-0, but lost, 2-1.
“It was a pretty even match,” Danforth said. “They came back against us and took it so it’s just a matter of beating their keeper. She was good.”
The Centaurs didn’t get many opportunities to even take on the Bacon Academy keeper.
The Bobcats dominated possession and only allowed one shot in the first half by the Centaurs and only one second half opportunity.
“They were dominant,” Danforth agreed. “They have some fantastic players on that team who move the ball well and work well with each other so it’s hard to break that up.”
The Bobcats, who improved to 13-0 and 9-0 in Div. I of the ECC, scored 23 minutes, 9 seconds into the contest on a set play.
Senior Arianna Elliott sent a corner across the crease to freshman Ava Galante who tucked it into the back of the net.
Keeper Ellary Sampson, who finished with eight saves, kept the Centaurs in the match as she was tested through much of the first half but didn’t allow another one into the net until early in the second.
Senior Mia Hageman worked the ball down the line and then sent the ball into the upper opposite corner of the net to give the Bobcats the two-goal advantage.
The second goal clearly had an effect on the Centaurs. “That’s the way the season has been going. It’s the theme. When that happens, we just think that we cannot come back from it because we haven’t had a game where we have come back and taken it. I think it’s a bad mindset that we have- if we go down, that’s it, we’re done,” Danforth said.
The Centaurs were coming off their second consecutive win earlier in the week when they blanked Montville, 2-0.
Freshman Lily Gregorzek put the Centaurs up with 26 minutes, 25 seconds left in regulation with her first career goal off an Avery Danis assist.
Four minutes later, Harper Simoneau gave the Centaurs their winning margin as she scored with help from Elise Coyle.
“It felt good and we played really well. We were translating everything that we’ve been talking about in that game. It’s just a matter of translating everything that we have talked about to the other games and having some consistency,” Danforth said.
Football
At halftime, things were looking OK. The football team had scored on a pair of long touchdowns and were locked in a one possession game against the Griswold/Wheeler cooperative program.
Then came the third quarter. It may only be 12 minutes long on the game clock but it seemed like an eternity for the Centaurs as the Wolverines scored four unanswered touchdowns and strolled to a 47-20 win Saturday.
“We resorted to bad football, the kind of football that has caused our issues this season,” said coach Connor Elliott of the third quarter.
A poor offensive possession for the Centaurs with three consecutive incomplete passes resulted in a punt to open the quarter and Griswold got the ball on the Woodstock 39-yard line.
The Wolverines ran the ball down to the 25 in three plays before a false start pushed them back five.
It didn’t faze senior quarterback Kolby Mills who scrambled around a bit on the next play, giving receiver Nick Watters a chance to free himself from coverage and Mills delivered a strike over the top of the defense for the 30-yard score.
The Centaurs (0-4) gave the ball right back to Griswold as an onside kick by the Wolverines was fumbled at midfield by the Centaurs and recovered by Griswold.
A personal foul, the first of four called against the Centaurs in the quarter, moved Griswold down to the 19 where Jason Demicco scrambled his way through the defense for another Wolverine score.
The Wolverines forced another punt and got the ball back on their own 43.
What followed was the longest drive of the quarter for Griswold, nine plays. The ninth was not exactly pretty but the ball was, literally, bouncing the Wolverines’ way. A bad snap saw the ball go to the ground but it bounced up and Mills grabbed it in the air and found open space on the right side for a 2-yard touchdown run to give Griswold a 41-13 lead.
Woodstock again could not move the ball and had to punt from their own 20. Layne Moss got to the ball before Caydem Herlihy’s foot and he blocked the punt and then recovered it for Griswold at the Centaurs’ 10.
Kolby Mills (13-for-25 passing, 190 yards) found Mason Mills for a 3-yard touchdown to give Griswold the 34-point advantage going into the final quarter.
“We had poor execution on multiple plays, as well as penalties, which is not a recipe for moving the ball effectively and the defense was pretty beat up due to injuries and if you combine those, you get four unanswered touchdowns and the worst quarter of football we’ve played all season. You have to control what you can control and you can’t win games before you stop losing them and we lost this game in the third quarter,” Elliott said.
The Centaurs did find themselves down early when Kolby Mills finished off a 10-play drive with a 12-yard scoring strike to Watters.
But Woodstock answered in this case when Herlihy went in motion from right to left and no Griswold defensive player followed him. Quarterback Elijah Poh took note and quickly got the ball out to Herlihy who only had turf in front of him as he went the 72 yards for a score.
Griswold (3-1) went up, 13-7, on a 3-yard run by Demicco but Poh (12-for-26 passing, 247 yards) tied the game when he hit Griffen Bloom for a 39-yard score.
The Wolverines took the lead just 52 seconds before the half on a 1-yard Kolby Mills sneak.
Poh also found Herlihy (7 catches, 165 yards) for a 62-yard score in the fourth quarter to account for the Centaurs scoring.
“We knew we would have to pass well with the style of defense that Griswold plays. I thought we executed well at times, poorly at others. As a unit, we have to get more consistent regardless of the defense. We have shown we have the ability to score, but like everything else, we just need to do it more consistently,” Elliott said.
It was the only home game of October for the Centaurs who now hit the road for the next two games beginning with a short trip to Willimantic to play Windham on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
Boys’ Soccer
It’s not an unfamiliar situation for the boys’ soccer team.
The Centaurs were 2-7-3 at this time of the season a year ago. They finished up by winning three of their last four matches to make the Class L state tournament.
That same kind of effort will be necessary this year.
The Centaurs, now at 2-6-4, need to equal that kind of late run to keep their season going past the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament after a 4-0 loss to Ledyard on Saturday dropped the Centaurs to 2-6-4 on the season.
The Centaurs finish up the season with matches against Waterford, Norwich Free Academy, Bacon Academy and Fitch.
“They are all winnable games,” said coach Dave St. Jean. “We just have to lock in and focus for the next couple of weeks and get the job done. We had hoped (Saturday) was going to be the start of that but clearly it didn’t happen. We have to start the streak on Wednesday (at Waterford).”
The Centaurs plight was not helped by a decision by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference last week which vacated their wins over Windham and Ellis Tech earlier this season.
Ledyard jumped out on top of the Centaurs courtesy of a foul in the penalty area which resulted in a penalty kick being awarded to the Colonels.
Their All-State performer, Ben Crowe, took the kick and found the lower left corner of the net to give Ledyard a 1-0 lead 16 minutes, 54 seconds into the contest.
The Colonels struck again when Didier Ramirez worked his way between two Woodstock defenders and turned an attempted clear into a goal with just 16 ticks of the clock left in the first half.
Crowe added his second goal of the 17 minutes into the second half and Emil Santos struck for a fourth goal with a header with 8 ½ minutes to play.
“I thought we were the more aggressive team but we just could not keep control of the ball, our first touch was awful, communication wasn’t too good, they outplayed us and got the results that they wanted,” St. Jean said.
The Centaurs were coming off a 1-0 win over St. Bernard.
Zach Armbruster scored the only goal for the Centaurs on a free kick from 28 yards out in the first half.
“We have to score more goals and take advantage of our opportunities. We just haven’t. We can’t find the goal and it’s starting to hurt us. It puts us in a place where we have to play perfect soccer and one goal ends up being the difference,” St. Jean said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
IMG 3132: The Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team was decked out in pink, significant of breast cancer awareness, for its match against Bacon Academy on Friday at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
IMG 3159: Woodstock Academy defenders Kaylee Saucier (outside), Kealyn Lamarche (18) and Elise Coyle (near) chase after Bacon Academy’s Alyssa Blanchett3) during their match on Friday at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
IMG 3149: Kealyn Lamarche goes airborne to attempt a header for the Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team against Bacon Academy on Friday at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
IMG 3144: Woodstock Academy’s Kaitlyn Teal tries to dribble past Bacon Academy’s Isabel Faber at the Bentley Athletic Complex on Friday.
(All photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy)
IMG 3471: The Woodstock Academy Centaurs take to the field against the Griswold/Wheeler football cooperative team on Saturday at the Bentley Athletic Complex. (Photos by Abby Ditzel/Woodstock Academy)
.