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The goal for the Woodstock Academy boys’ lacrosse team is to make the Class M state tournament for the first time since 2016.
That may not seem like all that long ago, but consider, at that time this year’s seniors were freshmen,
To accomplish their goal, the Centaurs must win two of their final six games.
There are winnable games out there, including the game at Rockville-Stafford, which came into the week at 1-9, and the game at Montville (0-9).
But after that, it gets dicey. All of the other remaining games for the Centaurs are also on the road and they come against Waterford which downed the Centaurs 18-5 in their first meeting; Fitch, a 9-8 loss; St. Bernard-Wheeler, a 7-3 loss and Norwich Free Academy, a 10-9 overtime win.
“They’re tough games, but they are the type of games that this program needs to start winning. Those are the teams we have to beat to make the next jump. I thought the composure we showed in that NFA game was amazing, but somehow, we’ve lost it,” said Woodstock Academy coach Michael Noel.
The Centaurs quickly came down to earth in their next game, a 13-4 loss at Stonington April 30.
It took a strong second half by the Centaurs to post an 11-4 win over the Norwich Tech-Windham Tech cooperative May 2.
That win evened the Woodstock Academy record at 5-5.
The Centaurs didn’t get out of the box very quickly and led only, 5-3, against Norwich Tech-Windham Tech at the half.
“We were disappointed with that. We beat them 14-0 the first time so being only up by two going into the third quarter was a little bit of a shock,” said Woodstock Academy sophomore Guerin Favreau.
So, Noel mixed it up in the second half. “We moved Guerin down to attack and he started to feed people and he ended up feeding Libby,” Noel said.
Libby was more than happy to get the free lunch. The junior finished with five goals in the game, giving him 17 on the season.
“At the beginning of the first half when I was playing middie, they were pressing me really close and didn’t let me get the ball at all. Then I went to ‘X’ and they completely dropped the press and it was a lot easier to get the ball and distribute it to other players,” Favreau said.
Favreau finished with two goals and three assists while Ethan Haass chipped in with a hat trick for the Centaurs.
It was a much better ending to the week than the start. The Centaurs went to Stonington and never got off the bus.
“I was very disappointed with that game,” Noel said. “We were lethargic; they didn’t have any energy at all.”
One of the key reasons for that could have been the absence of Ethan Holcomb. The team captain pulled his hamstring in the win over NFA and missed most of that game and was also on the sideline for both the Stonington and Norwich Tech-Windham Tech games.
Noel said Holcomb started practicing light again late in the week and will be back in time for the Rockville-Stafford match. In Holcomb’s absence, the Centaurs offense sputtered against the Bears.
Austen LeDonne had a pair of tallies while Favreau (21 goals, 19 assists this season) added a goal and two assists and Sean McCusker added the other. Colin Liscomb, despite giving up 13 goals, played well in the cage, making 19 saves.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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