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Volleyball senior day, from left: Ben Da Silva, Aiden Finch, Hunter Larson, T.J. Osborne, Cade Jones, Anthony Buckner and Addison Tyimok were honored on Senior Day. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.

 Softball Senior day, from left: Savannah Schley, Mia Pannone, Delaney Anderson, Sarah McArthur and Carla Laguna-Segues. Photo by Amy Sampson/Woodstock Academy.

Boys’ lacrosse Senior Day: From left: Jacob Lizotte, Ryan Wallace, Henry Wotton, Jared Neilsen, Lucas Theriaque and Sam Lescault.  Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.

Boys’ Tennis Honors, from left: Junior Owen Rigney and seniors Ethan Staples and Cang Nguyen. Photo by Siana Green/Woodstock Academy.


Girls’ tennis Senior Day: from left: Peyton Bentley, Emma Massey, Ellie Bishop-Klee and Margaux Reck. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.



Roundup
Tournament time for Woodstock's Centaurs
The leagues and State do not waste much time getting the postseason going this time of year.
With graduation and other senior-oriented events looming on the horizon, the competition for time has begun.
The boys’ volleyball season ended this week and on Monday, the postseason began.
Woodstock will be seeded fourth in the Connecticut Volleyball League tournament and played host to SMSA of Hartford in a quarterfinal match on Monday (match ended too late for this edition).
A win there and the Centaurs would advance to the semifinals, likely at the home site of the top seed, Wolcott Tech on Tuesday. The championship match is slated for Thursday at a neutral site.
The state tournament begins May 28 and concludes the following week.
The Centaurs are just happy to be involved with both.
The regular season came to an end Wednesday with a 3-1 loss to Norwich Free Academy.
Prior to the match, the school honored the program’s seven seniors, Ben Da Silva, Aiden Finch, Hunter Larson, T.J. Osborne, Cade Jones, Anthony Buckner and Addison Tyimok.
“They grew on me,” coach Adam Bottone said.
Jones did walk in as one of the leaders on the team even though he had never played on one. But he thought the team set a good tone for the future.
It didn’t end as well as the Centaurs had hoped.
The loss to the Wildcats dropped them under the .500 mark at 9-10.
Woodstock was up, 24-21, in the first set only to see NFA rattle off the next five points for the 26-24 victory.
The Wildcats took the second set, 25-19, before the Centaurs rallied and won 25-21.
In the fourth set, the Centaurs led by seven points but wound up falling, 25-20, to account for the final.
Finch led the Centaurs in the match with eight kills and three aces. Owen Budd added seven kills and Brayden Bottone tossed in six. Jake Henderson had 24 assists.
The Centaurs also fell on the road earlier in the week to Putnam, a team they had beaten, 3-2.
Finch had 15 kills and Brayden Bottone added six with 12 aces but it continued the Centaurs’ struggles on the road.
Jones said  the experience has changed him a bit and he may try to play volleyball at the intramural or club level at Lehigh University.
Bottone said it’s all part of the growing experience of a new team with a lot of young players and the postseason may help in that regard.
“Getting to the postseason and getting to experience the tournament environment will be huge for the young guys and the growth of the program moving forward. It’s a different feel than club. I hope, win or lose, we learn something from it,” Adam Bottone said.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Win or get ready for summer.
Those were the options for the boys’ lacrosse team on Friday night. The Centaurs decided that summer could wait a bit.
Woodstock held off Norwich Free Academy, 11-7, to qualify for the Class M state tournament.
The Centaurs now get about a week off to rest prior to their first postseason match.
It was a close battle throughout with the Wildcats holding a 3-2 lead at the end of the first half.
NFA then went ahead, 7-6, at the end of the third quarter but Lucas Theriaque tied it with 7 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation.
The Centaurs well remembered what happened the last time they let NFA hang around, the Wildcats came back to win the game with two goals in the final minute and a half.
That would not happen in this edition.
Henry Wotton put his second goal of the match into the net with 6:50 left to play and just a couple of seconds later, Keegan Covello tallied to make it 9-7.
Theriaque finished things off with his fourth goal of the match with 3:57 left and added his fifth just two minutes later to account for the final.
Woodstock finished the regular season with a 7-9 mark.
An 11-4 win over Montville on Thursday set the stage for the state tournament clincher on Friday.
The game also served as Senior Day for the Centaurs with Jacob Lizotte, Jared Nielsen, Theriaque, Ryan Wallace, Sam Lescault and Wotton honored prior to the match with the Wolves.
Wotton, Theriaque, Wallace and Lizotte all played three years for Tata.
Lescault  came in as a freshman off a two-year break from the sport due to COVID and was immediately put into a new position on defense with the long pole.
Lescault plans to continue to play both sports at the club level in college at Sacred Heart University.
The Centaurs gradually pulled away from the Wolves on Thursday.
They tied the match at three on a goal by Nielsen with 6 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first half and went ahead to stay on a Theriaque tally just 11 seconds later.
Dylan Phillips and Wotton also scored prior to the half as Woodstock enjoyed a 6-3 lead at the break.
Nielsen finished with four goals while Phillips had three and Theriaque added a pair. Nielsen also scored both goals in the Centaurs first outing of the week, a 14-2 loss to Fitch.
Tennis
The girls’ tennis team has not had it easy this season.
But even with a rotating cast of coaches, the Centaurs persevered and on Friday, qualified for the Class L state tournament with a 5-2 victory over Killingly.
Woodstock finished the regular season with a 6-8 record.
Green has been coaching both the boys’ and girls’ teams this season.
The Centaurs advanced into the postseason by winning three of their four singles matches against Killingly in a match that was continued after being interrupted by a severe thunderstorm the week before.
Ellie Bishop-Klee posted a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Talia Santese at first singles. Wynter Worth had it a bit easier at second singles with a 6-4, 6-2 straight set victory over Norah Dimatino and Emma Massey bested Cassidy Card at third singles, 6-4, 6-2.
The Centaurs won the match when Gianna Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds put together a 6-2,6-4 victory at first doubles.
Prior to that match, the girls did play Ledyard and had a chance to capture a share of the ECC Div. II title.
The Colonels, however, were not in a sharing mood and downed the Centaurs at Pomfret School, 4-3.
Ledyard won all four singles matches, sweeping the doubles.
Musumeci and Reynolds took first doubles with Kate McArthur and Margaux Reck winning second. Catherine Trudeau and Delilah Kesselman won third.
Prior to the match with the Colonels, the Centaurs celebrated Senior Day. Peyton Bentley, Bishop-Klee, Massey and Reck were all honored.
Green, honestly, is just starting to get a handle on the team but was happy to have the seniors on the team.
Despite all that, Bentley thinks the team has improved over the course of the season.
The boys’ tennis team needed a win in one of its last two matches to get into the state tournament.
They, unfortunately, fell short as East Lyme and Fitch were their last two matches.
The two teams are used to Div. I competition and handed the Centaurs, a Div. II team, a pair of 7-0 losses.
The Vikings scored shutout victories in the three singles matches that were played. Tyler Chamberlin and Ryan Chabot were able to win one game in the two sets that were played at first doubles and the story was the same for Heath White and Leo Larkin at second doubles.
Fitch was equally difficult although Cang Nguyen did challenge Evan Whitten of the Falcons at second singles before falling, 1-6,5-7.
The second doubles team of Ben Sperber and White also picked up a couple of victories before falling 3-6, 2-6.
Prior to the match with Fitch, the Centaurs celebrated Senior Day with Ethan Staples, Nguyen and Owen Rigney being honored.
Rigney is only a junior but will be leaving the team as he will be finishing his high school education abroad in Switzerland.
Baseball
The regular season came to a close for the baseball team a day later than scheduled.
The Centaurs had to play an unusual Sunday game after their date with St. Bernard on Saturday was rained out.
It didn’t bother Woodstock which posted a 9-3 win over the Saints to finish 18-2 for the season.
St. Bernard jumped out to the early 3-2 lead but the Centaurs went ahead on one swing in the fifth inning.
Maxx Corradi had a one-out single and Eric Mathewson doubled to set the stage for senior Keon Lamarche.
He delivered his third home run of the season by taking 1-0 pitch over the fence in left field to put the Centaurs up, 5-3.
Woodstock finished off the win in the sixth.
Matt Hernandez singled, stole second, went to third on a fly out and scored on a Corradi sacrifice fly.
The Saints then walked Mathewson and Lamarche, the latter intentionally, to pitch to Brady Ericson.
It was not a solid choice as Ericson smoked a triple to right to score both runners. Ericson later came around on a Riley O’Brien single.
Four Woodstock pitchers did the rest as they limited St. Bernard to three hits.
The loss ended a 10-game St. Bernard winning streak.
Earlier in the week, the Centaurs claimed the ECC Div. I title outright with a 5-1 win over Waterford.
Mathewson allowed just four hits in 5 1/3 innings and struck out nine to raise his record this season on the mound to 5-0 with a 1.69 earned run average.
The Centaurs gave the senior all the support he needed in the fourth inning when Corradi doubled home two runs and Brady Lecuyer added an RBI single. Caleb Simoneau also had an RBI single in the game.
The Centaurs followed up that victory with another one over Fitch to finish undefeated (8-0) in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
Ericson spun some more magic as he allowed just one hit and struck out six in six shutout innings against the Falcons.
Ericson is now 6-0 with a 0.62 earned run average. The junior has given up just 11 hits in 34 innings with 56 strikeouts and only five walks allowed.
Ericson helped himself with a third inning RBI single, Simoneau added a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch allowed a third run to score. The Centaurs added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Lamarche and a run-scoring single by O’Brien.
The only blemish — and one of the few blemishes all season — happened early in the week as the Centaurs saw their 12-game win streak get stopped in a whale of a contest at St. Joseph’s University.
North Branford outlasted the Centaurs, 9-8, in 10 innings. A four-run fourth inning put the Centaurs up by a run, 7-6.
The Thunderbirds tied it in the top of the sixth and the two teams battled through three scoreless innings before North Branford put two across in the top of the 10th.
It needed both as Mathewson singled and scored in the bottom of the inning for the Centaurs but the tying run was stranded at second.
Lamarche and Ericson each had three hits and two runs batted in for Woodstock.  Mathewson also added three hits.
The Centaurs begin the postseason on Wednesday when the ECC Div. I quarterfinals take place.
Boys’ Track
Christian Menounos and Colton Sallum came away with a pair of victories for the boys’ track team but it fell short in its only home meet of the season, 111.5-38.5, to NFA early last week.
Menounos won the 800m and joined Sallum, Charlie Caggiano, and Joel Koleszar in winning the 4x800m relay.
“Christian has been struggling a bit during the meets. We have come up with a plan for him to execute and gauge where we can take him. A combination of things kept getting in the way, (against NFA) he was able to execute the plan and now, we can start to get him prepped for the run ahead for the championship season,” coach Gerry LaMontagne said.
Sallum captured a first-place finish in the 1600m. Thatcher Paterson was best in the triple jump.
Anthony Beaudreault (300m hurdles); Gavin Grant (100m hurdles) and Koleszar (3200m) all had second-place finishes for Woodstock Academy.
LaMontagne was also happy with the performance of Jackson Durand in the 1600m.
As a little aside at the meet, some of the runners were allowed to be throwers.
Menounos, Sallum and Caggiano all worked on participating in the javelin. Menounos threw 122-feet, good enough for a third-place finish while Caggiano almost reached 80-feet.
The Centaurs finished 0-3 overall and in ECC Div. I in the regular season.
Members of the boys’ track team competed in the ECC championship on Monday at East Lyme High School (the meet ended too late for this edition).
Softball
The spring season is usually the shortest.
Its end can come pretty quickly.
The softball team found that out as just over a month and a half after the season began, it came to an end last week.
The Centaurs battled hard against Fitch in their final regular season contest, but lost, 10-6.
Woodstock did not qualify for the postseason with a 6-14 record.
 “I was very happy with the season,” said coach Brad Favreau. “Obviously, we had a very tough schedule this year.”
The Centaurs traveled to East Lyme on Tuesday. The Vikings had won by mercy rule early in the season.
But that was not the case this time as the Centaurs hung in.
Savannah Schley scored the only run for the Centaurs as she singled, went to the third on a Campbell Favreau base hit and scored on a double steal in the fifth inning.
Hillary Sampson had two of the Centaurs’ three hits.
East Lyme scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning on five hits and an error.
Otherwise, junior pitcher Kaya Nichols was solid as she gave up only nine hits and struck out six in going the distance.
The Centaurs came into the week needing to win two of three games to qualify for the state tournament.
The East Lyme loss ended those hopes as the Centaurs had lost on Monday to Killingly, 6-3.
Killingly scored three runs in the top of the seventh to pull out the victory.
Sarah McArthur had three hits and an RBI and Maci Corradi added two hits for Woodstock.
Prior to the game, the Centaurs honored seniors Schley, Mia Pannone, Delaney Anderson, McArthur and Carla Laguna Sagues in Senior Day festivities.
The Centaurs finished up with a good effort against the Falcons.
Woodstock rallied to take a 6-5 lead in the fourth on a Pannone RBI double, a Sampson run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly.
But Fitch scored three times in the top of the fifth to take the lead for good. Sampson finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Centaurs.
The sophomore catcher will be a key returnee next season as she finished with a .397 batting average, 15 runs batted in, three doubles and two triples.
Also back will be pitchers Grace Delsanto and Nichols for their senior seasons, and soon-to-be junior Kaylee Ziarko.
Boys’ Golf
The boys’ golf team went into an early week showdown with East Lyme with high hopes.
They had lost to the Vikings by only seven strokes at the Old Lyme Country Club earlier in the season and by just two strokes in the 18-hole Wildcat Invitational in Norwich.
So when the two met, the thoughts were there for a win and a tie for the ECC Div. I regular season title.
Unfortunately, those thoughts did not materialize.
The Vikings had other ideas.
They finished with a 148-stroke total and a 7-0 win.
“East Lyme has an excellent team this year with some good young players being led by a couple of more seasoned players.  Looking at a loss to their squad who put up its best team score in 18 years, and we still held with them and only missed the winning by 12, is reasonable,” coach Rich Garceau said.
It was close throughout the five matches, none of which were determined by more than five strokes.
Logan Rawson carded an even-par 36 but still lost by a stroke to Tyler Moore.
Donny Sousa (39) and Brady Hebert (44) were each downed by four strokes and both Aidan O’Connor (43) and Abdullah Choudhry lost by five.
The loss may have affected the Centaurs a bit later in the week.
They traveled to the Norwich Golf Course and suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Norwich Free Academy.
The match was played in less than ideal conditions with rain and wind greeting the golfers.
Rawson had his troubles early, rallied to hold it at a 44 and picked up one of the team’s points as he defeated the Wildcats’ Nick Wigfield by a stroke.
O’Connor wrapped up the other victory, also with a 44, but the Centaurs lost by seven strokes as a team 167-174.
In between, the Centaurs did pick up their 10th win in 14 matches with a 7-0 win over Fitch.
Rawson had one of his best outings of the season as he finished with a 2-under par 34 and Sousa was close behind with a 1-over par 37.
O’Connor, Nick Sivertsen and Troy Daviau also scored victories for Woodstock.
Girls’ Lacrosse
Coach Heather Miller knew at the beginning of the season that the scoreboard was not going to be the Centaurs’ friend.
Such was the case but in high school, it’s not always about wins and losses — it’s about progress.
“The first building block of what this program needs and where it’s going to be has been happening. I have had a lot of positive feedback from the parents and the officials. Those types of measurements won’t show on stats or scoreboards. I have confidence that it will especially when the sophomores are seniors,” Miller said.
Woodstock had a strong crop of 20 sophomores and  will lose only five players to graduation which should help them improve upon just a one-win season in 2025.
The schedule didn’t help the Centaurs.
The last week of the season highlighted that as Fitch downed them 22-0 and Waterford posted a 23-2 victory. Div. I is difficult.
 “We play super-tough teams that are seasons ahead of us but a lot of them have feeder programs and do the offseason work that my girls have to step up and do so we can match up. I believe we are in the wrong division. I don’t think we should be in Div. I at all,” Miller said.
That is likely to change next season considering Waterford’s success and the struggles for the Centaurs.
“We should be a division or two lower, not to demote us as a team, but to build us up progressively in the right way so we can be successful in Division I again,” Miller said. “It’s demoralizing. As much as the girls have progressed, they fight so hard, that it would be wonderful for them to have the results on the scoreboard that they deserve to have.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy


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