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ECC Div. I
The Woodstock Academy Centaurs were coming off, arguably, their biggest win in program history over East Lyme the Saturday before.
The after effects of that were in evidence April 30.
The Centaurs girls’ lacrosse team quickly fell behind Waterford.
“We just needed to get our heads in the game and pick up the intensity. We were coming off a giant win over East Lyme. It’s hard coming off such a big game,” said Woodstock Academy junior Emma Redfield.
The Centaurs got their act together by the end of the first half and pulled away from the Lancers in the second half for a 14-8 win.
It began what was another successful week for the Centaurs who avenged a tough loss at home against Fitch with a 17-9 win in Groton May 2.
The win kept the Centaurs atop the ECC Division I standings with a 3-1 mark.
East Lyme is in second with a 1-1 league mark while Fitch is tied with the Vikings at 2-2.
The Centaurs finished off the week with their seventh straight win, a 15-6 decision, in a non-league game at Ellington May 3.
The Centaurs came into this week with an 11-2 record with three games to play.
Woodstock Academy did strike first against Waterford. Ivy Gelhaus went from one side of the field to the other and beat Lancers keeper Courtney Dishaw 4 minutes, 7 seconds into the game. But just 45 seconds later, the Lancers tied the game when junior attack Gabbi Stack scored off a feed from Ashley Brandt.
The Lancers took the lead when Alle Folino scored off another assist from Brandt. Olivia Gianakos followed with a pair of goals within eight seconds of each other for Waterford. Gianakos scored her first with 12:44 left in the first half on a free position shot and then won the ensuing faceoff and took it right back to the Woodstock Academy cage, putting it past Kileigh Gagnon for a 4-1 Waterford lead.
It wasn’t easy against Dishaw who made 12 saves in the game.
After the two teams exchanged goals to make it 5-2, Gelhaus brought the Centaurs back within two with a free position goal with 2:50 left in the half.
Emma Ciquera scored her second goal of the game off another free position 56 seconds later and tied the game just 1:23 before the half off a pass from Julia Schad.
Gelhaus scored just 58 seconds into the second half, but the goalies were dominant for the next 13 minutes until Gianakos (four goals) tied the game at six with 11:18 to play.
But the goal may not have worked in the Lancers’ favor.
It created a faceoff and the Centaurs began to dominate that aspect of the game.
Ciquera scored the fourth of her half-dozen in the game to break the tie with 10:12 left.
The Centaurs added seven more over the next eight minutes, including three within 30 seconds of one another, which allowed them to breathe easy over the final seven minutes of the game. Gelhaus finished with five goals.
The senior tandem of Gelhaus and Ciquera were at it again against the Falcons.
Woodstock Academy well remembered the fiasco that occurred when the team’s first played. The Centaurs jumped out to a 12-5 lead only to see Fitch tie the game late in the second half and go on to a 15-14 overtime win.
There was to be no extra period May 2.
Ciquera and Gelhaus both scored six goals, Redfield added three and Arielle Johnson had two goals and two assists in the win.
Woodstock Academy was back on it on a wet May 3 and didn’t let a little rain bother them in the win over Ellington.
Gelhaus scored five goals, giving her 48 on the season, and Ciquera equaled her teammates’ season total with two of her own in the victory.
Arielle Johnson had three goals and two assists while Peyton Saracina added a pair of tallies for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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