Centaur pg 7 5-6-21
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Teeing Off
Woodstock Academy senior Kaily LaChapelle tees off against E. Lyme. Photo by Marc Allard.
The Centaurs girls' golf team is enjoying undefeated start after persevering through a little adversity last week.
The Centaurs not only had to play three matches in three days, but also had to do so without their top player.
It made things a bit more difficult.
Mia Dang was out of the lineup as she had left campus for spring break and was restricted by pandemic protocol.
Even without Dang, who had produced scores of 37 and 38 in her first two outings, the Centaurs downed Suffield, NFA and E. Lyme.
“It was really good,” Woodstock Academy coach Earl Semmelrock said of the success. “We talked when we knew we would not have her and what the expectations were and everyone stepped up. We only have to beat the teams that are on our schedule, but we hadn’t seen a couple of these teams for a couple of years.”
Woodstock Academy senior Kaily LaChapelle said, “Mia was definitely a hard loss for our team this week, but we all knew we had to step up. We hit some bumps along the way, but overcame in the end.”
The Centaurs made their longest trek of the season to Copper Hill Golf Course in Suffield and downed the Wildcats, 216-275.
They followed that up with a 207-260 win over NFA.
It was one of the best scores in Norwich in several years according to Semmelrock.
Woodstock Academy finished up the week with a 188-216 win over E. Lyme.
LaChapelle was medalist in all three events
The senior shot a 50 on a windy and brisk day at Suffield, improved to a 46 against NFA and continued the downward trend by improving by four strokes again, with a 42, against E. Lyme.
“While my game is in a good spot now, I still want to see improvement over the next few weeks. I am working on keeping my shots consistent and making sure this is the best season possible,” LaChapelle said.
The Centaurs got a pair of 53’s from Ciara MacKinnon and Alex Vaida against both Suffield and NFA.
The two also improved on the home course with Vaida shooting a 47, Maya Orbegozo a personal best 49 and MacKinnon a 50.
“I would say we scramble well,” Semmelrock said. “They all know their strengths and weaknesses and they’re working on improving where they need to. The good news is that if everyone is having a good day, which is difficult on the golf course, everyone is capable of contributing.”
Semmelrock said consistency could be a little better at this point of the season.
Against E. Lyme, he had a couple of girls who had seven good holes and a couple of bad ones, a four-putt or a couple of wayward chips that elevated their scores.
Still, there is little to complain about with a 5-0 overall record and a 4-0 mark in the ECC.
“I knew we would be good. I just didn’t know how good the other teams would be. I didn’t know who was returning to other teams and what to expect. You can only control what you do yourself. I’ve been trying to tell them that, ‘Don’t worry about the other stuff, it’s all noise.’ The theory of golf is that you are playing against par on the golf course, score matters as to what par is, not what the other team does,” Semmelrock said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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