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It was, again, a matter of inches.
Such has been the fate of the Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer program this season.
Andrew Johnson sent in a shot against Windham early last week that curled nicely toward the net and, unfortunately, hit the post early in the second half.
Just moments later, Sean Rearden broke in from the left side and a Huck Gelhaus cross was just a little too long and rolled harmlessly out.
“That’s been the story of our season. We take a wrong step in the penalty area and it winds up in the back of the net. We end up just on the wrong side of the post on our shoot and it doesn’t go in. That’s been the difference in the games. That was a microcosm of our season,” said Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden.
The Centaurs made a game of it on Senior Day in their final home game, but lost to the Windham Whippets, 4-2.
“It’s tough seeing all the parents come out and seeing us lose but, obviously, it’s not all about the result, it’s about the effort and journey we went through to get to this stage,” Sean Rearden said.
The story was similar in the season finale Oct. 30. The Centaurs hit the post, the crossbar, and had a couple of shots headed for the goal line that were cleared before they got there. It resulted in a 4-0 loss to Bacon Academy.
The loss ended the Centaurs’ season at 1-12-3.
Sean Rearden knew it would be difficult because of the loss of key individuals to graduation but had hope that the Centaurs would be in most games. He believed that to be the case.
The Centaurs saw 11 players put away the jersey for a last time following the match with the Bobcats.
In addition to Sean Rearden, Doug Newton, Jack Butler, Nelson Rodrigues dos Santos, Nathan Craig, Reid Butler, Greg Weber, Matt LaBounty, Chad Graley and Grayson Walley are all in their senior years.
The Centaurs fell behind the Whippets (12-1-2) early thanks to the efforts of Alfonso Vazquez.
The senior striker already owns the state record for career goals by a high school player and he added to that total against the Centaurs.
His first came just 7 ½ minutes into the first half when he took a pass from Alexandro Coj, got past the defense and there was just nothing Woodstock Academy keeper Zack Roethlein could do.
The Centaurs tied the game with 14:17 left in the first half when junior Eric Phongsa scored his seventh goal of the season off the rebound of a shot by Logan Talbot.
Vazquez struck again in the second half and again, it happened 7 ½ minutes in.
The senior worked his way through the Woodstock Academy defense, forced Roethlein (7 saves) to come out and flipped it over the keeper into the far corner to put the Whippets atop for good.
Kaleb Calixto added a third Windham goal 12 minutes later when a free kick from Andy Linares found Calixto on the opposite post and he booted it home.
The Centaurs did make it a one-goal game again when Graley scored his second of the season.
It gave the Centaurs some hope with 14:38 left in the match but with five minutes to play, Vazquez made the nice move in the penalty area to give him a little opening for his right foot and he lofted it into the opposite corner for his 44th goal of the season and 138th of his career.
Paul Rearden said while the loss and the season as a whole was a bit disappointing, there was plenty of good things this season.
“Especially on Senior Day, you look at what you have and know it’s the last home game for some of these boys. You look at how they have worked over the season and looking at the big picture, they have all worked their hearts out. Everyone came in and played a role. Yeah, things haven’t quite clicked for us in certain areas. It would have been easy for these guys to drop their heads and not give the effort that they did and that goes from the seniors right down to the two freshmen that we pulled up,” Paul Rearden said.
Paul Rearden added despite the loss of 11 seniors, the cupboard is not bare.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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