wa golf pg 10 5-9-24
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Donny Sousa putts on the 8th hole. Boys' golf photos by Rich Garceau/Woodstock Academy.
Isabella Siwko tees off in a match versus Coventry. Girls' golf photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.
Reagan Scheck, standing, and Isabella Mawson look over Mawson’s putt on the first green.
Brady Hebert hits his second shot.
Woodstock
Academy downs
Killingly in golf;
wins 4 straight
Woodstock Academy coach Rich Garceau agreed; getting a win against Killingly in boys’ golf is no small feat.
“We tied Killingly about three or four years ago, but the last time we beat Killingly was about eight years ago,” Garceau said. “Killingly certainly has set the standard for success in high school boys’ golf over the past 10 years or so, so certainly going into the match we knew we would need to work and not quit on ourselves to have any chance to win. I was very proud of the team because they went into the match with a determination to do well.”
And do well is what the Centaurs did.
Woodstock came away with a 4 ½ - 2 ½ win over their neighboring rivals.
It was a nice boost going into a pair of matches with Bacon Academy and Stonington on Friday.
The Centaurs pulled out a pair of 6-1 victories in those matches to raise their record to 7-2 overall.
What made the win over Killingly even more satisfying for Woodstock was the way in which the team pulled out the victory.
The top two players did not have their finest days.
Logan Rawson carded a 41 and Donny Sousa shot a 44.
“Logan and Donny, respectively, struggled by their standards and I was really proud of them because they fought through their struggles and still turned in a decent score. Had they given up on themselves and posted anything much higher than that, we would have had a much greater difficulty notching the win,” Garceau said.
Sousa did split his match with Killingly’s Layne O’Leary to account for the half point.
That meant it was up to the youngsters — and they came through.
Freshman Brady Hebert tied for medalist in the match with a four-over par 39 to down Killingly’s Quin Crowley by three strokes.
Sophomore Aidan O’Connor shot a 42 to best Sebastian Sierakowski by seven.
That was the two points the Centaurs needed as they also best Killingly in aggregate strokes, 166-171, to take the two points in that category for the win.
“Brady Hebert and Aidan O’Connor had to dig deep in themselves and post scores to help lift our two team leaders,” Garceau said. “The Killingly match is one of those times where I could really see how under those circumstances, golf becomes a team sport. The two that usually lift the less experienced players needed lifting themselves and the younger, less experienced players stepped up for the win.”
But it was Rawson and Sousa who carried the day in Stonington.
Sousa earned medalist honors with an even-par 36 while Rawson was just one stroke behind to lead the Centaurs to the win over the Bears and Bobcats.
Woodstock had started the week with a 5-2 loss to East Lyme.
The Centaurs got wins at the bookends as Rawson shot a 40 at the Old Lyme Country Club from the top of the Centaurs lineup and Nick Sivertsen added a win from the fifth slot with a 45.
It was not enough, however, to keep East Lyme from continuing its undefeated ways.
The Centaurs bounced back on Wednesday with a 7-0 win over Tourtellotte.
Rawson and Sousa led Woodstock with a four-over par 40 while O’Connor was five strokes back of that.
“I am very pleased with the week. Regardless of the relatively close loss at East Lyme, the team showed tremendous growth, not only in their level of play on the course but they also seemed to have reached a new level of maturity and understanding the mental process of keeping in themselves and focusing on the shot and the ultimate team goal,” Garceau said.
Girls’ Golf
Experience may be lacking and numbers may be low but the girls’ golf team has been making some strides.
The Centaurs played three matches this past week and were in contention for much of the time spent on the course.
It’s just none went their way at the end as Coventry, East Lyme and Stonington all posted victories.
Coaches can keep track of matches by the new app that players record their scores on for each hole and it shows, in real time, their coach how the match is progressing.
“We were tied with East Lyme, which on paper is a better team than us, with two holes left and we just didn’t finish the last two holes as well as I had hoped. Against Stonington, it was the same thing. We were within a shot or two with a couple holes to play,” said coach Earl Semmelrock.
Unfortunately, in both instances, the Centaurs lost by eight strokes.
The Vikings downed the Centaurs 225-233 at the Quinnatisset Country Club in Thompson and the Bears downed Woodstock Academy 216-224 at the Elmridge Golf Course in Stonington.
“It’s good to see the progress. We do have some things to work on but we finally have a week coming up where we will have three practice days which I think we get a lot out of. We had a practice prior to (the Stonington match) and it showed. We just have to be more consistent overall,” Semmelrock added.
Freshman Reagan Scheck was pretty consistent for Woodstock.
She carded a 47 against both Coventry (a 199-225 loss early in the week) and East Lyme and a 49 against Stonington.
“Reagan’s playing well,” Semmelrock said. “She could have been medalist (against Stonington) but she had one bad hole, the eighth, where she lost two balls. She’s always asking how she can improve and I’ve told her that she just has to keep the big numbers off the scorecard. She has a really good attitude and I think we will see her scores come down more before the end of the year.”
Bella Mawson struggled a bit early in the week but came to practice, worked on some things, and brought her score down to a 52 against Stonington.
The Centaurs ended the week with a 1-6 overall record and are 1-5 in the ECC.
“We’re improving and with only one match this week and three practice days, that should help. We’re halfway done the season now and it will be over before we know it but I’m pleased with the progress that we’re making,” Semmelrock said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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