Girls' golf
comes to an end
The end of the season has come for the Woodstock Academy girls’ golf team.
The Centaurs finished up on Tuesday with the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship tournament which they hosted at the Quinnatisset Country Club in Thompson.
The tournament ended too late for this edition.
The Centaurs were going into the season finale hoping to finish on what has become a traditional note – an ECC championship.
 “Clearly we want to win our fourth consecutive ECC championship. If the girls play as well as they have been playing at practice the last week, we should be very competitive,” said Woodstock coach Earl Semmelrock.
The Centaurs did not have a typical regular season.
They finished second to Waterford in the league after the Lancers won both meetings between the two.
Overall, The Academy posted a 10-7 record.
“I knew it would be difficult to shoot the low scores that we have had over the last few years. We really are a young team with many players with little experience.  We have relied on, at least, two first-year golfers to participate in every match,” said Semmelrock.
An example of that happened May 24.
In the final regular season match for the Centaurs, they downed Norwich Free Academy,  220-246.
One of the newcomers, freshman Kailey LaChappelle, led the Centaurs with a 52, two strokes off her best round of the season.
Senior Caroline Eaton and sophomores Linda St. Laurent and Avery Jones all carded a 56 while Katherine Harrington finished with a 62.
“I am very optimistic,” Semmelrock said of the future for the program. “With all the freshman and sophomore players we have, I would say the future is bright. They really want to improve and I believe they will put in the work over the summer and fall to return as better players. They have all shown significant improvement in their games since the beginning of the season. We talk every day about the fact that in golf you can be as good as you want to. If you are willing to put in the work, the results will follow.”

Boys’ golf
The Centaurs boys’ golf team will have an important match before the regular season comes to a close.
Woodstock hosts Montville May 23 at Quinnatisset.
If the Centaurs (13-7) can defeat the Indians (1-14), they will finish in a tie with Stonington for second place in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Centaurs also don’t have to leave home to play in the ECC championship which will take place at noon May 31 at Quinnatisset.
Woodstock warmed up for those two events with its best performance of the year in a 7-0 win over Plainfield May 24.
Jack Gelhaus and Eli Child both shot 36s while Mason Stewart added a 38, Owen Borski a 42 and Robert Maheu finished with a 48. All of those were season-best individual performances.
The 152 total could also put the Centaurs in the hunt for the ECC championship if they could repeat that performance.
By Marc Allard
Sports Information Director