Qualify pg 1 10-26-23

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It was a nice way to start a three-match week in girls’ soccer.
The Centaurs handed non-league foe, Wethersfield, a 4-1 defeat early last week.
It was a strong win over a team that had handed Woodstock Academy a 2-1 loss in the Class L state quarterfinals a year ago.
“It was a surprise, it has to be, I don’t think many other schools would have thought Woodstock Academy could defeat Wethersfield, 4-1. It was a big win for the program,” said coach Dennis Snelling.
The match did have state tournament implications as it guaranteed Woodstock Academy a berth in the Class L state tournament.
“It’s nice to make States. We wanted to keep that streak going. The game, itself, was also great preparation because now we know we can compete with that kind of team,” Snelling said.
The Centaurs struck first, halfway through the first half, on a goal by junior forward Leah Costa.
The Eagles tied the match just before the half but it was the Centaurs who regained the momentum 4 minutes, 20 seconds into the second half when Isabella Selmecki scored.
“It was great to see Isabella get through like that and have a nice finish,” Snelling said.
Costa followed with her 10th goal in six matches and Kendall McCormack finished things off with a goal midway through the second half.
Macy Rawson, Selmecki and Juliet Allard all had assists.
“I felt that Freya (Robbie) and Juliet won everything in the middle and made it the best passing game we had. It’s a good streak to have wins over Ellington and Wethersfield,” Snelling said.
But winning four matches in a row, especially three in four days against the likes of Ellington, Wethersfield and E.O. Smith is a big ask.
The Centaurs never really caught fire against E.O. Smith on Tuesday and fell, 1-0.
But the bookends were solid.
Woodstock rebounded from that E.O. Smith loss and picked up its first ECC Div. I win of the season two days later.
The Centaurs traveled to Stonington and blanked the Bears, 3-0.
The win guaranteed the Centaurs (7-5-2, 1-1-2 ECC Div. I) a berth in the ECC Div. I tournament.
Selmecki scored in the first half and both Costa and Robbie scored second half goals.
McCormack, Costa and Allard had assists against the Bears.
Volleyball
Junior Izzy Mojica sat on the sidelines and watched for the first half of the season for the Woodstock volleyball team.
The outside hitter could only practice with the team because of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference transfer rule as she came in after playing at Tolland High School and did not change address.
“It was tough but I liked cheering on everyone, it was nice,” Mojica said.
She’s been making up for lost time ever since.
On Friday, she helped the team find its winning ways again as the Centaurs downed Sports Medical Sciences Academy from Hartford, 3-0.
It ended a three-match losing streak that began against East Lyme the Friday before and included two 3-2 decisions against Norwich Free Academy and Waterford last week.
It was so important,” Mojica said. “We had to work with what we had and build off the strong practice we had (Thursday). When we lost to East Lyme, we lost a lot of energy, so we had to work through that and get it all back again.”
Woodstock improved to 12-6 with the win.
“We needed to get back on the winning train. It was good to get there,” said coach Adam Bottone.
In typical fashion, according to Adam Bottone, the team started off a little slow.
It took a 7-2 lead early in the first set only to see the Tigers (9-8) bounce back and tie it at nine.
“I felt like we were doing things well but there was no energy to get us going. We had quite a few service errors at inopportune times that put us in this melancholy state. There was no passion behind what we were doing.”
Still, the Centaurs prevailed, 25-15.
Things got better in the second set as the Centaurs went on a couple of service runs and opened a 17-9 lead by the time Mojica stepped behind the line to serve.
She got the last eight points including aces on three of her last four serves for the 25-9 set victory.
 “At first, I was just going for it and then I started to hit spots and (Adam) Bottone told me to throw in a little short ball and I got those in and it won the set,” Mojica said.
She also added eight kills while Mia Sorrentino led the Centaurs with nine. Liliana Bottone also had eight kills while Sophie Gronski had 27 assists and 11 digs.
“(Izzy) has been a great addition to the team. I think she is a good floor leader out there and typically brings a lot of energy. When her hitting is on, it’s on and that was evident in the last game we played versus Waterford when she had 19 kills. What she really brings, though, is her defense and passing. That helped us solidify the areas that we struggle in quite a bit,” Adam Bottone said.
While things were good on Friday, they weren’t that great earlier in the week.
The 3-0 loss to East Lyme denied the Centaurs a chance to win the ECC Div. I title outright.
The close loss to NFA on Monday gave the title to the Vikings and dropped Woodstock to the No. 3 seed in the ECC tournament.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Adam Bottone said. “We had 20 service errors, 41 hitting errors; we just struggled in every aspect of the game.”
Still, despite digging themselves a hole, the Centaurs almost managed to climb out of it.
Norwich Free Academy won the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-16, on their home floor. But Woodstock battled back to win the next two, 25-14 and 25-22, and set up the decisive fifth set. NFA escaped with a 15-11 decision.
Liliana Bottone led the Centaurs with 12 kills while Mojica had 10. Cassidy Ladd had 12 digs and Gronski finished with 35 assists.
It was a similar situation on Wednesday. This time in Waterford, the Centaurs got the upper hand over the host Lancers with a 28-26 first-set win.
“We won that first set, not convincingly, but ended up going to five (sets) and just didn’t play well in that fifth set,” Adam Bottone said.
Waterford took the next two sets to put the Centaurs backs to the wall.
Woodstock responded with a 25-21 victory in the fourth, but fell again in the fifth, 15-9.
Mojica finished with 19 kills while Liliana Bottone added 12 and five aces. Ladd finished with 19 digs and Gronski contributed 40 assists.
Boys’ Soccer
Senior Day always seems to come up fast no matter what the season.
“It’s crazy isn’t it?” coach Paul Rearden said early last week prior to the Centaurs Senior Day match with Norwich Free Academy about the speed in which a season comes to a close.
But in this case, there was also the small amount of time it took to honor the seniors on the team.
“After a couple of years where we had 13 and 11 seniors, we only have two,” Rearden said with a smile.
The Centaurs honored Addison Tyimok and Hunter Haynes prior to the match.
“Addison is a great role model for players coming through behind him. The start of last season, he spent a lot of time on the bench but when he did come in, he impressed and by the end of the season, he was a starter. He could have easily gone the other way, could have been happy about sitting on the bench, but his performance in practice and when he got minutes was 110 percent. He is a great example for someone who comes in and doesn’t get minutes right away. You just keep on working and you can become a captain. That’s great,” Rearden said.
Haynes was of the same ilk.
“Hunter has been getting more playing time due to injuries and the like. He’s come in and done a phenomenal job. He started the last few games and has done great,” Rearden said.
The reason for the coach’s smile about having just two seniors is because it means just about everyone returns next season.
The difficult part is that there was not as lot of senior leadership on the field this year.
“Leadership-wise, the underclassmen because of the lack of seniors, we had a leadership group. It’s given a few of the underclassmen a taste of responsibility and what we are looking for. It’s been interesting. The physical side of it (not having many seniors) hasn’t helped,” Rearden said.
The Wildcats, like the rain that fell on and off throughout the match, did dampen the spirits a bit as they pitched a 2-0 shutout at the Centaurs.
Louis Hawkins III scored early in the contest for NFA and Erik Portillo added an insurance goal midway through the second half.
Eli Susi made 10 saves in net for the Centaurs.
The Centaurs had two more ECC Div. I matches to play last week, both against the same opponent, a home-and-home set with Fitch.
The Centaurs traveled to Groton on Wednesday where there was a quick first half flurry of activity which the host Falcons got the best of and posted a 3-1 victory.
Three of the four goals came in a three-minute stretch in the first half. Fitch scored with 12 minutes left but the Centaurs countered a minute and a half later when Shaun Mugagga tallied off a Logan Rawson assist.
The Falcons scored again 90 seconds later and also added a second half goal to account for the final.
It took a little longer on Friday as the two teams went to overtime. Fitch scored first again but the Centaurs tied it up late on a goal by Matt Johndrow off an assist by Garrett Bushey.
Unfortunately, with darkness closing in on a cloudy Friday, the Falcons scored the game winner in the extra time for the 2-1 victory.
The Centaurs (2-12-1, 0-5 ECC Div. I) finish up their season against undefeated East Lyme on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Football
The hope was that New London, a passing team, may be more hampered by the weather than host Woodstock.
The Whalers, however, showed that they can also run the ball and posted a 24-7 win.
Heavy rain greeted players and fans alike making for a rather miserable Saturday afternoon, something that has been commonplace in New England lately.
The Centaurs (2-4, 0-2 ECC Div. I) jumped out on top early.
Woodstock forced the Whalers to punt twice early and on the second, Gabe Luperon-Flecha returned it 30 yards to the New London 27.
A penalty did back the Centaurs up to the 41 but a pass from Teddy Richardson (6-for-13 passing, 69 yards) to Henry Wotton gained 11 yards and a 15-yard penalty was tacked on to put the ball at the New London 16.
Four plays later, Richardson found his way into the end zone from a yard out and a Wotton extra point gave the Centaurs a 7-0 lead.
New London did answer on the next possession with quarterback Jack Philistin finding Tyree Barnes for 31 yards down to the Woodstock 1.
Philistin forced his way into the end zone on the next play but the Centaurs foiled an attempted 2-point conversion to maintain a 1-point lead.
That looked like it might grow at the end of the half as the Centaurs went on a 12-play drive that was helped by a fourth down pass interference call against New London.
It got the Centaurs down to the 6-yard line but three runs resulted in negative-3 yards and a pass into the end zone on the final play of the half was intercepted.
The Centaurs were pinned deep in their own end on the opening kickoff of the second half thanks to a penalty.
Woodstock was forced to punt and the Whalers got the ball back on their own 38. Barnes went 36 yards and, two plays later, another 24 to get the ball down to the 1-yard line where Kyntel Dessources (21 carries, 155 yards) scored.
Barnes reeled in an interception at the Woodstock 29-yard line and the Whalers scored on a 1-yard run five plays later to go up, 18-7.
Philistin (5 carries, 34 yards) finished things up for New London with a 10-yard run less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
Luperon-Flecha led the Centaurs in rushing with 31 yards while Wotton had three catches for 16 yards.
The Centaurs have another home game Saturday as they host Bethel in a non-league contest at 1 p.m. at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Field Hockey
In field hockey Woodstock is down to its final two games of the season but the Centaurs are making the most of the stretch run.
After a three-goal performance earlier in the week against Waterford, the Centaurs put two more goals in the back of the cage against Killingly Thursday.
Unfortunately, it was not enough as host Killingly was able to get one more than that and post the 3-2 victory.
Grace Pokorny and Clara Dowdle, the two leading scorers for the Centaurs (2-10-2, 1-8-1 ECC) this season, each put a goal in while Caroline Harris added an assist. Madison LaVallee made 10 saves in the cage.
There was a lot of back-and-forth in the ECC battle between Woodstock and Waterford earlier in the week.
That was the vibe right through to the end and beyond.
When the dust, or for a second time in two days, the rainbow cleared from the turf, the Lancers had pulled out a 4-3 overtime victory.
The Centaurs took a first quarter lead when Harris scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Pokorny.
The Lancers answered by the end of the quarter and then scored another in the second for a 2-1 halftime lead.
That became a two-goal advantage when Waterford scored again halfway through the third but Elizabeth Roberts (5 saves) shut the Lancers down for the remainder of regulation.
Woodstock chopped it to one on Harris’ second goal of the match off a second assist from Pokorny
Sophomore Avery Crescimanno sent the game into overtime when she put her first goal of the season into the back of the net with 11:20 to play in regulation.
The Lancers captured the victory when Sarah Davidson scored 2:55 into the extra period.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

Junior forward Leah Costa (10) tries to get the ball away from an E.O. Smith defender.

Junior Isabella Selmecki works the sidelines to keep the ball away from E.O. Smith player.

Freya Robbie (25) tries to fend off E.O. Smith’s Ana Alfaro (16) and Emerson Whalen during a match. Photos by Marc Allard.

 
Defensive lineman Ryder Chaput (60) and linebacker Sam Clark (11) try to take down a New London running back.

Kenny Brown (59) and Aiden Brailsford (5) both get a hand on a New London receiver. Photos by Abby Ditzel/Woodstock Academy.

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