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The Woodstock Academy Centaurs girls' soccer team saw its season come to a close.
The No. 4 Centaurs were upset by No. 13 Daniel Hand of Madison, 4-1, in a Class L state tournament second round match.
The Centaurs didn’t reach the goal that all the high school teams who qualify for the state tournament are striving for – a state championship.
But in the 20 games that they played, they did accomplish a lot.
“It was a winning season, losing only one regular season game and winning the ECC championship back-to-back. Lots of people scored goals, different names helped the team, there were plenty of positives,” said Woodstock Academy coach Dennis Snelling.
The Centaurs finished 16-2-2.
The only blemish on the card prior to the loss to the Tigers was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Norwich Free Academy in the final match of the regular season.
They won the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I regular season title and, for the second straight year, defeated Plainfield in the league’s championship match.
Heather Converse had the only goal in that match against the Panthers and it came with 52 seconds left.
It was her first career goal and one imagines, she will never forget the moment.
Nor will she forget her senior year.
“This is the best season, as coach has been saying, that we’ve ever had,” Converse said. “The attitude of the girls here is so positive. They are great people and players and I’m really going to miss them. I’m just so proud of everyone.”
Unfortunately, as Converse pointed out, “there is only one winner in the end.”
If there has been a monkey on the back of the Centaurs’ program, it has been the state tournament.
Woodstock Academy, outside of receiving a bye, has not won a state tournament match since 2013.
The draw the Centaurs received after another first-round bye this season was not easy.
Daniel Hand is a quality program out of the soccer-rich Southern Connecticut Conference.
It may have come in as the 13th seed, but that was deceptive.
The Tigers came in with an 11-3-4 record.
Two of those losses came against Class LL schools Amity and Cheshire.
It didn’t take long for Daniel Hand to strike.
Snelling had warned the Centaurs (16-2-2) about Daniel Hand junior Kayla Howard prior to the contest.
But Howard took her first touch down the sideline, cut around the Centaurs defense and beat Woodstock Academy keeper Irene Askitis one-on-one just 1 minute, 25 seconds into the match.
“We had eyes on her, we knew we had to mark her and keep her off the ball. The first time she touched it, she scores,” Snelling said.
The goal was the only tally of the first half which the Centaurs dominated, getting six shots to the Tigers two.
But Daniel Hand struck early again in the second half off a set play when Chloe Silva got in the middle of the box and headed a corner from Francesca Antoni into the net just 4:13 in.
“We thought we would come out strong and we just lost track of those marks at the back post and two people were wide open and could have scored,” Snelling said.
The Tigers looked like they had put it away off another corner just 2 ½ minutes later.
Antoni sent it in from the corner and Chloe Thompson stepped in front of it on the near post, she re-directed the ball which hit a Woodstock Academy player and went into the net for the 3-0 advantage.
But the Centaurs didn’t pack it in.
Converse, who scored her first career goal in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship match last Thursday, scored her second just 1:29 after the Thompson tally.
“I kind of trapped it, turned around and slammed it into the net. I was able to get my anger out a little bit,” Converse said.
The goal revitalized her teammates a bit.
“We started getting more possessions, looked more in control. We just owned it after that and I really thought we had a chance. No one gave up,” Converse said.
The problem was that, even though the Centaurs were working hard and moving the ball well, they weren’t getting quality chances.
“We kept moving forward, kept getting into the space that we needed to be in, but we weren’t getting the ball to the goal. They’re a good team, Daniel Hand is always a good team,” Snelling said.
The end, however, came at the halfway mark of the half when Hayley Dean, on a free kick put the ball into the goalie box. Howard picked it up, dribbled to the near post, tossed it back out to Dean who sent it into Samantha Riordan on the opposite side and Riordan did not miss the open net.
“We couldn’t track them in those set plays. When you get down to these late rounds, you don’t want to give up free kicks in the final 30 (yards) of the field. Every chance they had at goal was well calculated,” Snelling said.
The Centaurs will lose seven seniors.
Leading scorer Ivy Gelhaus (19 goals, 5 assists), Askitis, midfielders Regan Stuyniski and Ashleigh Angle (6 goals, 2 assists), Converse, Aislin Tracy (2 goals, 3 assists) and Isabel Cintron will all graduate.
“The six that we had for four years built this program up with their work ethic, attitude, and approach. Certainly, we will miss them all. I told them that. Part of the reason the team was so successful and cohesive was those kids. They were the foundation of the team,” Snelling said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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