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Centaurs bounce
back with win
over NFA
Peyton Saracina loved what she saw ahead of her.
An open net and not a defender in sight.
Norwich Free Academy goalie Caitlin Daley was behind her.
She could have easily dribbled to the net for a point-blank shot.
She didn’t have the time.
“I knew how much time was on that clock and I knew how much time I had to get it off my foot. I didn’t want to take another touch and risk it,” the junior said. Good call.
The ball crossed the goal line with three seconds left to give Woodstock Academy the 3-2 win over the Wildcats Sept. 25.
“It’s an important win for the sake of the league stuff; to compete with NFA and bounce back after the East Lyme loss, our two toughest opponents, back-to-back,” said Centaurs coach Dennis Snelling. “It was a great result, regardless of the facts of how the game went.”
It was going fine for the Centaurs (5-2, 2-1 ECC Division I) early.
Norwich Free Academy took only one shot on goal in the first half.
The Centaurs had six and one found its mark. Peyton Saracina found freshman Grace Gelhaus who did have time for a one-touch, getting around Daley who had come out to play her and left the net open. Gelhaus didn’t miss. She put in her eighth goal of the season just over 23 minutes into the match.
The Wildcats answered 7:32 into the second half when Natalia Hogan fired a rocket in off a loose ball from 35 yards out.
The Centaurs weren’t behind for long.
Woodstock quickly pushed forward on the ensuing kickoff and Peyton’s older sister, Hallie, ended up with the ball about 30 yards away from the NFA net.
She put it into the opposite corner for her second career varsity goal.
Park scored with 1:01 left off an assist from Abigail Tucker.
The Centaurs weren’t fazed. A miskick by the NFA defense in the final seconds opened the door for Peyton Saracina.
“I had so many chances throughout the game and that (NFA) goalie is just incredible. She was just so intimidating to hit a 1-v-1 against,” Saracina said.
The striker had seven chances prior. The eighth would be the charm. The loss dropped NFA to 1-4 overall, 1-1 in ECC Division I.
The Centaurs did struggle a bit in the second half against East Lyme earlier in the week.
The teams played a scoreless first half, but then the Vikings put Woodstock Academy back on its heels early in the second half.
Abby Belleville scored just 51 seconds into the half.
“That broke our spirits a little bit,” Snelling said.
Alivia Catanzaro made it 2-0 with a goal 17 minutes later and followed up with East Lyme’s third goal halfway through the second half.
“We had plenty of chances in that game. It was just a matter of putting them in and changing the momentum, but we weren’t able to do that.”
Gelhaus was the only Centaur to score with 11 ½ minutes left.
Catanzaro completed the hat trick off a corner in the final minute for East Lyme.
For the Centaurs, the defending ECC champs, it was a little wakeup call.
“It had been a little too easy for us for a few games (Woodstock Academy outscored its three opponents 15-0 the week before) even though we were playing good teams. We just came out a little flat (against East Lyme). These teams really want to beat us and have all been quoted as saying such. We have to be on guard,” Snelling said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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