Takes part
WILLIMANTIC — A group of Eastern Connecticut State University students recently traveled to Italy to participate in the Creative Writing Abroad course. The students spent five weeks, writing fiction stories inspired by their travels and experiences at the Studio Arts College International (SACI) in Florence.
Abigail Murren ’19 of Pomfret Center, who majors in pre-elementary education and English, was one of the students who used Italy’s Tuscan views, scenery, art and architecture to inspire their writing. The group took intensive, creative writing workshops in the lovely Renaissance-era palazzo garden at SACI, where they also critiqued and edited each other’s original works of short fiction.
“As an English major with a concentration in creative writing, this course gave me the perfect opportunity to improve my writing while experiencing one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” said Murren. “The amount of inspiration I had from experiencing Florence’s people, culture, and history only strengthened my love for writing, and I’m beyond grateful to have had that opportunity.”

 

It was a light week for The Woodstock Academy field hockey team.
That probably was a good thing as the Centaurs are battling some illness and injuries.
“We were looking pretty tired,” said coach Lauren Gagnon. “We were down a couple of subs, got a lot of illness and a couple of injuries now, that definitely hurt us quite a bit.”
The Centaurs also had been jostled around practice-wise.
Torrential rain forced their game with Stonington and practice to be canceled Sept. 18.
“It was hard to mentally prepare yourselves,” Gagnon said. “We were prepared to play Stonington. We missed that game, had to prep for East Lyme and we really only had a half of a good practice to prep for the game. It showed.”
The Vikings took advantage of the Centaurs' woes to score a 5-2 victory.
East Lyme took the early 3-0 lead on goals by Nancy Alden, Caroline Real and Katie Durkee.
Woodstock Academy (2-2, 2-1 Eastern Connecticut Conference) suffered another blow when defensive standout Sydney Cournoyer injured her knee.
“We’re waiting to hear on how she is doing,” Gagnon said late last week. “That was definitely a big morale blow to the girls.”
Eliza Dutson came over to the sideline to be with her friend when Gagnon asked her if she was ready to return.
“She gave Sydney a pat on the head and I told her, ‘Don’t worry about her, she will be fine. You’re going to go in and score for her.’” Gagnon said.
Dutson did just that to cut the Centaurs deficit to two.
The injury also did have a silver lining as it gave Katie Boshka a little more playing time back in the defensive end.
“She had never played defense. She had these amazing moves she was doing and she did them all game long. She came up with some huge defensive stops. We were really happy with her performance,” Gagnon said.
Samantha Mowry scored for the Centaurs in the second half but East Lyme countered with a pair of their own, one by Alden, the other by Sarah Healy, to post the victory.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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3rd straight
win for PSA
PUTNAM — Putnam Science Academy captured its 3rd straight win of the soccer season Sept. 19 with a 5-0 victory over MacDuffie School.
PSA continues to shock opponents and make a name for themselves as a 1st year program. After tying the #8 nationally ranked Martin Luther King High School in New York, PSA has now outscored the opposition 14-1 in the last three games.
Head Coach Ivan Damulira said: “We’re playing great soccer right now. The ball is moving, kids are making plays and our comradery is really starting to show.”
The Mustangs put the game to bed rather quickly scoring four goals in the first half including a goal within the first minute of the match thanks to Izan Ramos (2019). Ramos then assisted on a goal by Jenluis Henriquez (2019) in the 10th minute and the flood gates were open.
Pinheiro Romulo (2021), Boadi Augustine (2022) and Victor Reis (2021) scored the other three goals as Putnam Science Academy improves its record to 3-0-1 on the season.
PSA 1  Williston 1
Putnam Science Academy started slowly in the Sept. 22 varsity boys’ soccer game trying out different formations as the team continues to find their rhythm with multiple line ups early in the year.
The Academy fought to a 1-1 tie with Williston.
Williston took advantage scoring a goal in the 25th minute after a hand ball gave them a PK opportunity. Williston would take a 1-0 lead into the half but the Mustangs played with better focus in the second half and would tie the game up on a goal by Jorge Mendo (2020). The score remained the same and ended in a 1-1 tie. PSA now sits at 3-0-2 on the season; they have yet to lose a match.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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