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Corral
Eliza Dutson, who finished with a hat trick for Woodstock Academy, tries to corral a ball off the stick of E. Catholic player Lauren Viveiros (16). Photo by Marc Allard.
Woodstock Academy field hockey coach Lauren Gagnon gave her team a pretty formidable task in its season-opening game with East Catholic Sept. 14 at the Bentley Athletic Complex. “I told them they had to score in the first minute,” Gagnon said.
The Centaurs delivered with a second to spare.
Eliza Dutson took a pass from Rachel Canedy and put it into the Eagles’ cage just 59 seconds into the game.
“I also told them that they had to score early and often and just keep it going,” Gagnon said.
The Centaurs delivered on that as well as the Dutson goal was just the beginning of an onslaught that produced a 9-0 win.
It was also the beginning of a hat trick for Dutson, a junior midfielder-forward for the Centaurs.
“I don’t think I’ve scored that many goals in an entire season,” Dutson said. She has. Although she almost equaled her scoring output of the 2018 season (4 goals) in the one game.
“I think our attitude at the beginning (of the game) was super-strong, we were all talking, all making great passes and working together incredibly well. Our first goal improved our mood entirely,” Dutson said.
She also rattled the cage just five minutes after her first goal and put another one home with 15:45 left in the game when rain began to pelt down hard on the players.
“She’s a little ball of fire,” Gagnon said.
Alex Vaida scored just two minutes after Dutson’s first goal and about 22 minutes after Dutson’s second, Canedy put one of her own in for the 4-0 halftime lead.
Goals by Madelyn Lecuyer, Olivia Ott, Emma Durand, Sophia Rakovan and Dutson’s finale in the second half accounted for the final score.
“I’m surprised to score nine goals especially since we shifted around a lot of personnel. We moved Meg (Preston) from defense to the forward line. We put some forwards and midfielders back on defense to get other people comfortable. We tried putting some younger players in to get them minutes and confidence. We really weren’t trying to get the score up as much as we were concentrating on our new formation and new setups,” Gagnon said.
That new formation certainly passed its first test.
“This was a total confidence booster. We didn’t have the greatest season (3 wins) last year. I think this first game will help us this entire season,” Dutson said. “We have a bunch of great girls who are super close and together. We all click really well. It’s really great.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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