The Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer team didn’t get the chance to celebrate taking a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II regular season title together.
After a win over Ledyard on Oct. 9 put the Centaurs in position to take a share of the title, disappointment set in when the Centaurs lost to Bacon Academy on Oct. 12.
But all hope was not lost.
The Centaurs had to beat Waterford Oct. 16 and hope that Bacon Academy beat Ledyard to create a three-way tie.
The Centaurs did their part with a 2-0 victory over the Lancers.
Then they had to wait.
The Bacon – Ledyard match went to double overtime before the Bobcats scored and posted a 3-2 win over the Colonels.
“Someone texted into our group chat right away and, everyone, as soon as they read it, started putting up ‘Let’s go boys.’ And congratulating each other. Even (Woodstock Academy grad) Jack Gelhaus (now at Coastal Carolina University) texted me and gave me an ‘Atta boy’,” said senior Ethan Holcomb.
The 3-way tie for the Division II regular season crown was the biggest thing that happened for the Centaurs in Holcomb’s four-year tenure on the team since he was a freshman. The Centaurs were the 10th seed in the ECC tournament in 2015 and surprisingly advanced to the league title match where they lost to Bacon Academy, 3-0.
Since then the Centaurs have been good, 13-6-1 in 2016 and 12-7-1 last year but had no banners to show for their effort until this season.
“It’s fantastic. It hasn’t been in the cards for the last two years,” said coach Paul Rearden who replaced Jared Morse as head coach in the 2016 season. “It’s nice to have a reward to show for the hard work and the belief they have shown in themselves. You can only say that they are doing really well and things are improving so many times, to actually have that confirmation is great for the boys.”
His only disappointment was learning of the accomplishment after the team had dispersed following the win over Waterford.
Rearden was on his way to a meeting when his wife phoned him.
“I was in my car and yelled, ‘Yes,’” Rearden said with a laugh. “It was a pity we didn’t find out at the field together, but, the difference between that and not winning (a title), I will take that.”
The game with Waterford was also Senior Day for the Centaurs.
As such, they got off to a slow start.
Rearden, who has 11 seniors on the team, started all 11 which made for a quiet first half before the Centaurs scored twice in the second half.
The Centaurs had just two first half shots.
“The seniors came in - some had spent most of the season on the bench - and did a really good job. Once we got our normal starters in, it took a while. It’s tough coming into a game when the other players already have the pace of it. Once we settled into the formation we wanted to play and got the rhythm of the passing going, from there, we slowly started to take over,” Rearden said.
Eric Phongsa was the catalyst.
Rearden had tried to get him into the match in the first half, but he stood on the sidelines waiting for a ball to roll out of bounds for 10 minutes.\
It never did.
Rearden finally got Phongsa on to the field in the second half.
“He has that unknown quantity, sometimes, he doesn’t know what he’s trying to do so for anyone to read it - it’s tough,” Rearden said. “When you get him around the area, though, he’s going to make opportunities and (Tuesday), he took it to goal really well.”
With Phongsa as the catalyst and Holcomb as the steadying influence, the Centaurs finally put something on the scoreboard.
“Just having (Holcomb) in there is a massive psychological lift for the boys. He’s been playing outstanding this season. Thankfully this season, he’s playing injury free. His presence and work ethic out there rubs off on other people,” said Rearden.
Huck Gelhaus put the Centaurs into the lead, 7 minutes, 6 seconds into the second half.
Gelhaus took a through ball and dribbled through the defense, firing it past keeper Anthony Sachatello for the 1-0 lead.
Just 14 minutes later, Phongsa broke through and scored an insurance goal for the Centaurs.
Woodstock Academy had to weather a late storm as the desperate Lancers (4-9, 1-6) did pepper keeper Jack Lotter with six shots late, but Lotter didn’t let anything through.
“Even in the games that we lost early in the season, I was happy with the performance. You have to look at the bigger picture. You can’t win every game, but I think the boys have given 110 percent and are trying to play the right way. They’re giving everything for their teammates - that’s all you can ask,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs, boosted by the news that they had tied Bacon and Ledyard for the Division II title, played one of their best matches of the season, in Rearden’s opinion, Oct. 18 when they rallied for a 2-1 win over Norwich Free Academy.
“It was phenomenal,” said Rearden. “We went down there, cold night under the lights, and it was NFA’s Senior Night so they wanted to put a good show on. They played a good game. It was 100 miles per hour from start to finish.”
Playing without defenders Chase Anderson and Aidan Morin, the Centaurs took the early lead when Holcomb delivered a through ball to Reid Butler who finished 12 minutes into the match. It was Butler’s fourth goal of the season.
The Wildcats tied the game four minutes into the second half when Micah Spruance scored.
But five minutes later, the Centaurs methodically worked the ball down the field. Phongsa delivered his second assist of the season, one-touching the ball to Alejandro Quintas Gonzalez who scored for a third time this season.
The Centaurs went into the final match of the season Oct. 22 with Windham (which ended too late for this edition) with a 9-5-1 record.
Later in the week, the ECC tournament gets underway.
“I can’t wait,” Rearden said. “I just want to keep the momentum going (vs. Windham) but we’re in great shape. I let (Anderson and Morin) rest versus NFA because they were tight and it was a cold night and I didn’t want them to tear anything. The last couple of years, we’ve been carrying injuries to important players going into the playoffs. We’re physically and mentally raring to go.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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