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Returning
Woodstock Academy junior Grace Gelhaus returns this season for Woodstock Academy. The All-State player scored 16 goals and had 10 assists last season.
Leader
Senior Addy Smith is a four-year starter and will be counted on for leadership both on and off the field. Marc Allard photos.
Right up the middle. Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer coach Dennis Snelling had little worries last season.
From the back where Brynn Kusnarowis and Caroline Wilcox resided to the middle where Gillian Price was, few opponents could penetrate.
It’s a good memory. But this year, that’s all it will be.
“They were like a wall of really strong kids that opponents had to get through and because of them, our goalies haven’t really been tested for the last couple of years. We haven’t given up many shots. In particular, Brynn’s leadership with her voice in the back, is something we will need to replace. I know we can do it, it’s just something we haven’t had to do in four years. It’s like losing a coach on the field,” said Snelling.
The three all graduated last year along with Peyton Saracina, Sydney Couture, Lucy McDermott, whom Snelling considered the best wing layer in the ECC, and Sophia Mawson.
But Woodstock and its surrounding sending towns are soccer towns. The talent pool doesn’t all of a sudden dry up, only the faces change.
“We have a lot of talented kids but the experience level is low since not a lot of (returning) players got a lot of varsity playing time last year,” Snelling said. “I’m confident with the talent level. We just need experience,”
The season was short. The Centaurs played only 11 games, including five increasingly bruising matches with Killingly, and finished 8-2-1.
The Centaurs will be able to score. Junior All-State player Grace Gelhaus returns after scoring 16 goals and assisting on 10 others a year ago.
Some of the responsibility for that will fall on the shoulders of senior Addy Smith. She finished with three goals and seven assists and will be counted on to be the one who often delivers the ball to Gelhaus.
Smith thinks the midfield will be the strength of the Centaurs with players like senior Ava Coutu, sophomores Emma Massey and Kayla Leite and freshmen newcomers Bella Mawson and Macy Rawson.
“Addy has been a leader for four years and she will be the set- up player. She will make that final pass that we need and she will score some goals too. She is so smart and both on and off the field she is the kind of leader that every sports team needs. She’s a great role model,” Snelling said.
Stella Brin, Magdalena Myslenski, and Lennon Favreau return in the backfield with freshman Haley Whitehouse making a strong bid for a starting spot. Sophomore Rebecca Nazer and junior Fiona Rigney are “brilliant” in goal according to Snelling. The schedule will be much tougher than a year ago when the Centaurs played only teams from northeastern Connecticut and the Windham area.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Girls’ Soccer schedule: Thursday, Sept. 9: vs. Waterford, 4 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 11: vs. NFA, 11 a.m.; Monday, Sept. 13: at Fitch, 4; Wednesday, Sept. 15: at Plainfield, 4; Saturday, Sept. 18: at Cumberland (R.I.), 11; Tuesday, Sept. 21: vs. Killingly, 3:45; Saturday, Sept. 25: vs. E. Lyme, 11; Wednesday, Sept. 29: at Stonington, 4:15; Saturday, Oct. 2: at Burrillville, 4; Tuesday, Oct. 5: vs. Bacon, 4; Saturday, Oct. 9: vs. Ellington, 11; Tuesday, Oct. 12: at NFA, 7; Saturday, Oct. 16: at Valley Regional, 6; Tuesday, Oct. 19: at Fitch, 4; Tuesday, Oct. 28: at E. Lyme; 6:30; Saturday, Oct. 30: at Killingly, 5:30.
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