About three minutes into overtime Oct. 26, Woodstock Academy sophomore striker Eric Phongsa took a through ball from Alejandro Quintas Gonzalez.
His shot off the pass found the back of the net and the Centaurs began the celebration.
One thing had not occurred yet.
There was no sign of a goal from the official.
“The signals the referee was giving weren’t very clear. Did he disallow the goal? Call offsides?
There was a moment of hesitation,” said Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden.
An offside call was a possibility as Gonzalez had made the pass from just outside the area into Phongsa.
Fortunately, after the brief hesitation, the officials did indicate the goal was good and the fourth-seeded Centaurs prevailed 1-0 over No. 5 Bacon Academy in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division 1 boys’ soccer tournament quarterfinal match.
The Centaurs moved on to meet Stonington on Tuesday in New London in a semifinal match that ended too late for this edition.
Woodstock Academy was dominant throughout, according to Rearden, against Bacon Academy (9-7-1).
“I never thought we were going to lose it,” Rearden said. “It was just about putting the ball into the net.”
The Centaurs (10-5-2) had several good opportunities to do so in regulation.
Matt LaBounty had two good chances early in the second half, but was thwarted on both attempts by the Bacon defense.
Phongsa came within inches of what Rearden described as the potential goal of the season for the team in the second half.
The ball started in the Woodstock Academy area and eight passes later, Phongsa, coming in from the far post, got his foot on a cross, but his shot went wide.
Bacon had only one good opportunity to score, but the Centaurs had to work to keep the Bobcats from getting many looks.
“It was a really tight game against a good, well-organized, and physically strong team. The boys had to dig deep and run themselves ragged to stand any chance,” said Rearden.
The post-regulation speech, after 80 minutes was played without a score, sounded almost identical to the one Rearden had delivered at halftime. Rearden just urged them to continue what they were doing and good things would happen.
“The boys have the belief now if we keep doing what we do, we will find a way to win,” Rearden said. “We’re playing well, moving the ball around well, we kept our shape and discipline and kept on making chances.”
They just needed one to go in and Phongsa finally delivered three minutes into the extra period.
Rearden said any question as to whether there should have been an offside call made was quickly when Rearden shook hands with the Bacon Academy coaching staff.
“I was speaking to them, literally, a minute later and if it had been in doubt that it was offside, they would have still been riled up. They said (Phongsa) was onside,” Rearden said.
The Centaurs finished up the regular season Oct. 22 with a 2-2 tie with Windham.
Chase Anderson scored his first goal of the season with eight minutes left in regulation to knot the game with the Whippets (13-3-1).
Sean Rearden’s corner found the head of Cole Hackett but his shot was knocked away. The rebound went to Anderson who knocked it in.
Quintas Gonzalez scored the first goal for the Centaurs who finished the regular season with a 9-5-2 mark.
“To be honest with you, I was hoping to get 10 wins, double figures. I even went as far as submitting the (ECC tournament) score (to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference website) but it wouldn’t let me,” Rearden said with a laugh.
League tournament matches do not count toward CIAC records.
Still, Rearden was happy that his Centaurs did clinch a share of the ECC Division II regular season title and have advanced to the league semifinals.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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