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Centaurs girls’ lacrosse picks up 1st win
Woodstock Academy first-year head coach Jeremiah Huntt had a feeling about Saturday’s match against St. Bernard. “I told them that I didn’t have a doubt that they were going to win this one,” Huntt said.
The Centaurs had to work a little extra for it but they handed St. Bernard a 6-5 overtime loss to improve to 1-7 on the season.
Saucier and senior Joanna Lin were keys to the effort. Saucier got her first career hat trick while Lin came up with both the tying goal and game-winner.
The winning goal coming from shooting space in the sudden death overtime period.
“Something that I’m really good at is driving from shooting space and both my goals came from that,” Lin said. “It was nerve-wracking but I’m glad that it went in, the game ended and we didn’t have to play more overtime.”
Lin’s tying goal came with 1 minute, 25 seconds to play in regulation.
Huntt said: “Joanna is one of the more aggressive and accurate shooters so I had a good feeling that she was going to get one. Her and Lennon (Favreau) were chasing goals out there, but the ball was going off the cage or the goalie was making the save. I guess there was some questioning (by Joanna) as to whether she should have passed it, but I’m glad she stuck to her gut and went after it.”
Saucier had scored the first two goals of the match in the first half.
“As we were walking on to the field (for the second half), I told her, ‘Kaylee, I smell a hat trick coming.’” Huntt said with a laugh. The first goal came off an assist from Favreau, Caroline Harris assisted on the second and Lin on the third.
It was the first career win for Huntt.
It was a match at halftime as Fitch led the Centaurs by a slim 4-2 margin but the Falcons pulled away in the second half for their first win of the season, 15-5, early in the week.
Couture scored two goals for Woodstock with Saucier, Lin and Favreau getting the other tallies.
Saucier also added an assist in the contest.
Woodstock was shut out by Ellington Thursday, 13-0.
Girls’ Golf
It has been a good start for the girls’ golf team.
Led by senior Maya Orbegozo, the Centaurs have won their first four ECC matches and are 4-1 overall.
“I think we have a little snapshot now of the teams, although we have not seen Norwich Free Academy yet, but it’s a snapshot of what other teams are bringing and what we have. We look to be in pretty good shape. We made a team goal of winning the conference this year and qualifying for the state championship tournament. I think with a little bit of effort and hard work, we can reach those goals,” said coach Earl Semmelrock.
The Centaurs finished off the week with a 203-244 win over Bacon Academy.
It was their second consecutive match when the Centaurs total was below 210.
They lost to a non-league foe, Glastonbury, in their home opener at the Quinnatisset Country Club, 192-209 earlier in the week.
That 209 total came despite the chilly windy weather.
“It was the first match that we got to play at Quinny, so they had a little more familiarity with it there. Some of the other courses that we’ve played, the conditions haven’t been all that great yet. I was very pleased with that total,” Semmelrock said.
“I expect our numbers on a good day to be in the mid-to-high 180’s and on a bad day to be in the mid-200’s to 210’s. If we keep those scores up, I think that will qualify us for states but that remains to be seen,” he said.
Orbegozo led the way in all three matches played during the week.
She shot a 53 in a 241-249 win over Stonington at the Elmridge Golf Course followed by a 45 against Glastonbury and she equaled that number against Bacon.
“She has been playing pretty well. She’s consistent, knows that she is making a few mistakes and can be better but I’ve been very pleased with her performance,” Semmelrock said.
The rest of the team has been filling in nicely behind their No. 1 player.
Liliana Bottone was second to her against Stonington with a 56 and Bella Mawson added a 60. Against Glastonbury, it was Ella Musumeci with a 50 and Bottone with a 55 and at Bacon Academy, Sophie Gronski carded a 48 and Musumeci was next with a 51.
Baseball
It was not the best week for the Woodstock baseball team — but it was a successful one.
The Centaurs finished the week with three wins to improve to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in Div. II of the ECC.
But two of the three games were not all that easy.
Woodstock jumped out to a six-run lead on Friday over Bacon and then watched as the Bobcats came roaring back.
The Centaurs just pulled out an 8-7 victory.
Earlier in the week, the team came out a bit flat and had to battle for an 8-5 win over Ledyard.
It was only on the road where everything truly came together as the Centaurs downed New London, 13-2.
Sunshine and warm conditions greeted the Centaurs and Bobcats on Friday and with Brady Ericson on the hill, the outlook was good for Woodstock.
The sophomore had not given up a run and had only walked three in his first 15 innings of pitching this season. And he was spotted an early lead courtesy of his own bat.
Eric Mathewson lofted a ball deep into left field that fell in for a double and then Ericson ripped a shot to the right-center field fence and he motored around for a triple.
Woodstock made it 3-0 in the second inning as Tanner Graham drew a one-out walk. Maxx Corradi followed with a beautiful bunt single down the third base line and Mathewson delivered both home with a single to right.
That advantage would double in the fourth.
Keon Lamarche led off with a double to center, went to third on a passed ball and later scored on a wild pitch. Kaden Murphy followed with a bunt single and Mathewson walked. Ericson then singled to left to score Murphy and Mathewson came home on an error to make it 6-0.
But Ericson, while only giving up two hits, walked five and his pitch count made it necessary that he left the mound in the bottom of the fifth. The Bobcats took advantage and scored four runs.
Graham singled home a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it a three- run game again.
But with two outs in the top of the sixth, Bacon struck for two more runs to narrow the gap to one.
Marcus McGregor drove in Ericson, who had reached on an error in the sixth inning, to make it 8-6 and then the Centaur fans had to bite their nails a bit as the Bobcats clawed back with a run in the seventh but Mathewson got a strikeout to end the game with the tying run just 90 feet away.
The Centaurs scored early and often against New London on Wednesday and ended the game in just five innings as they posted a mercy-rule win.
That was fine with coach Brian Murphy as the game was played down by the shoreline on a chilly and breezy Wednesday.
Woodstock did most of its damage in the second inning.
After falling behind the Whalers 2-0 in the first inning, the Centaurs loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a New London error.
Winning pitcher Kaden Murphy, who improved to 3-0 on the season, brought in the first run with a single. Graham tied the game with a base hit and lead-off hitter Corradi put the Centaurs ahead to stay with a two-run single.
Mathewson followed with an RBI single, Ericson added an RBI double and McGregor finished the rally with a sacrifice fly.
The Centaurs would add two more runs in the third inning, three in the fourth and another in the fifth to cement the mercy-rule win.
Corradi finished with two hits and three RBI while McGregor added a pair of hits and a pair of runs driven in and Ericson had a pair of doubles. Kaden Murphy also added a pair of singles to the cause.
There were several factors working against the baseball team early in the week.
The players had just come off spring break and were back in school for the first time in about a week and a half; the team was coming off nice wins over Killingly and Bacon and the weather was not exactly baseball-friendly.
Given that, the Centaurs were just happy to post a win over Ledyard.
“We will take the win, obviously, but we were flat (Monday),” said coach Brian Murphy. Woodstock fell behind the Colonels, 2-0, in the top of the first inning.
The Centaurs fought back in the bottom of the inning when McGregor singled home Ericson who had reached on an error.
The Centaurs took the lead in the second.
Mathewson singled home Kaden Murphy (2-for-4) who had singled. Riley O’Brien followed with a two-run single.
O’Brien was being helpful to himself as he went four innings, gave up just three and one earned run and struck out five.
Ledyard came back to tie the game in the top of the third but the Centaurs surged ahead again when Kaden Murphy singled, went to second on a balk and stole third. The senior came home on an error.
Woodstock added two more in the fourth on an RBI double by Lamarche and a run-scoring single from Carter Morissette. McGregor scored the final run in the sixth on an error.
Morissette pitched two innings in relief of O’Brien (2-1) and Mathewson closed the game for the Centaurs.
Softball
Up-and-down the lineup the bats were smoking for the Centaurs softball team last week.
That offense resulted in a trio of one-sided wins for Woodstock.
Two of the three games the softball team played ended in mercy-rule wins. The Centaurs posted a 15-2, five-inning victory over Bacon Saturday.
That followed on the heels of a 4 1/2 inning effort, all that was needed to down New London, 19-0, Thursday.
The only game that went the distance was a 12-6 victory in Ledyard early in the week.
The three wins helped Woodstock improve its record to 8-2 overall and 3-0 in ECC Div. II.
“I know we have a lot of winnable games still on the schedule, some good battles with ECC Div. I schools that we want to start to compete with. Things are going great. We’re having fun, the kids are having fun and so am I,” said coach Jason Gerum.
The Centaurs started a little slow against New London getting one run in the first two innings.
But all heck broke loose in the third as Woodstock pushed 13 runs across the plate powered by three inside-the-park home runs.
“It doesn’t happen much,” junior shortstop Sarah McArthur said about the team beating out three roundtrippers inside the park in the same inning. “I think once we all get into our game, our mindset is there and we’re just having fun, pumping each other up.”
McArthur led the parade across the plate in the third with a drive to left field that she was able to tour the bases on.
“Before that, I had two errors in the field and I let my pitcher and my team down, those were easy plays for me but my throws weren’t there. I knew I had to come back and get something started for us,” McArthur said.
Mia Pannone later added an opposite field three-run inside the park shot and Emily Goodell added a three-run homer of her own on a ball that stayed just inside the third base line and rolled all the way to the fence.
The Centaurs substituted liberally after that and scored six more times in the fourth to put the game away early.
It was a similar story at Bacon.
Woodstock put one run up on the board in the first inning, eight in the second and six in the fifth to be able to board the bus early.
Lexi Thompson played a key role both in the circle and at the plate versus the Bobcats.
The senior struck out eight and did not allow a hit in her five innings of work.
She also kept the inside-the-park home run theme going.
Thompson hit a two-run homer in the second-inning uprising, it was her fifth of the season.
Maddie Martinez, who like Thompson, finished with three runs batted in, added a two-run double and Elizabeth Morgis(3-for-4 at the plate) contributed to the eight runs with an RBI double of her own.
Ainsley Morse had a two-run single to key the fifth-inning rally.
Delaney Anderson also had three hits in the win.
The Centaurs fell behind early as Ledyard scored a first-inning run on Tuesday.
But Woodstock responded with four of its own runs on an RBI double from Martinez (3-for-3, 3 RBI) and RBI singles from Morse, McArthur and Anderson.
The Centaurs made it 6-2 in the fourth when Grace Delsanto doubled and was brought home by a single from McArthur. The shortstop finished with a 5-for-5 performance at the plate against the Colonels and knocked in four runs.
Martinez later scored McArthur with a single.
The Centaurs added a single run in the fifth and put it away with five in the seventh.
Three of those runs came off the bat of Thompson who hit a three-run blast to center field.
Delsanto, Morse and Anderson all finished with three hits in the win.
Boys’ Lacrosse
It was a relatively low-scoring match early on in Montville but a late second quarter run put Woodstock well into the lead and it cruised to its fourth straight victory, 10-4, over their hosts early in the week.
Unfortunately, that winning streak came to an end before the week was out.
The Centaurs struggled early and fell to Fitch, 14-7, on Thursday at home and then suffered a second setback, 7-5, at the hands of RHAM in a non-league match Saturday.
The boys’ lacrosse team, however, still is at break even with a 4-4 record.
Against Montville it was a slow start. The Centaurs held a slim 3-1 lead with 6 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first half.
Then, the sticks lit up for Woodstock.
Zach Gessner put a ball in the net and then added his third of the match with 5:21 left in the half.
Jared Nielsen made it 6-1 with 2:48 to play before the break and Jacob Jurnovoy earned his hat trick, getting a pair of goals in the final 1:04 to give the Centaurs an 8-1 advantage.
“We just started to settle the ball a little bit. I think we’ve become used to playing fast and loose with the ball a little bit but Montville has turned into a heck of a program. They have a heck of a goalie and we realized that stuff we used to be able to get away with, we weren’t going to get away with. So we settled back in, ran the offense the way we were supposed to, opening up where we were supposed to and started to score goals,” coach Tata said.
The Centaurs allowed Montville to creep back within four goals but tallies by Jurnovoy and Keegan Covello ended the hosts’ thoughts of a comeback.
Dylan Phillips added three assists in the Woodstock win.
Against Fitch, the Centaurs got on the board first when Nielsen scored the first of his two goals.
But it was the Falcons who followed with six unanswered tallies and that momentum never waned as Fitch posted the victory.
Nielsen, who leads the Centaurs with 17 goals, added a second before the end of the first quarter and Jurnovoy added the first of his two tallies in the second but Woodstock trailed 9-3 at the half.
“The first half was tough,” Tata said “(Fitch) is the one team that will match us physically in the ECC and I think we weren’t used to that. We were a little sloppy in the beginning and lost a lot of ground balls.”
Tata was happy with the play of Sam Desmond who stepped in for Keegan Covello defensively and the fact that his team didn’t quit. The Centaurs were held scoreless in the third quarter but came up with three goals in the final three minutes.
“It showed resilience and if this team is anything, it’s resilient. I joke with them and call them, ‘dogs’, there is not an ounce of quit in them and I appreciate that,” Tata said.
Gessner did record his 100th career point on Saturday in the loss to the Raptors.
He finished with two goals and three assists and Nielsen added three goals and an assist but it was not enough to post the win.
Boys’ Tennis
The Woodstock boys’ tennis team got a couple of players back from spring break and it certainly helped as it posted a 5-2 win over New London Thursday.
The team now gets a spring break of its own as it won’t play again until Saturday when it hosts Lyman Memorial at the Pomfret School courts at 9:30 a.m.
Four singles victories, all in straight sets, powered the Centaurs to the win over the Whalers.
Cormac Nielsen was a 6-1, 6-2 winner; Owen Rigney posted a 6-2, 6-2 win; Tyler Chamberlin won 6-1, 6-1 and Eli Staples captured a 6-1. 6-0 win.
Woodstock also posted a win in first doubles as James Le and Diego Rodriguez, who had missed the break week, returned to action and scored a 6-1, 6-0 victory over their New London counterparts.
The win kept the Centaurs atop the Div. II standings of the ECC with a 3-0 record, they are 4-1 overall.
Boys’ Golf
The boys’ golf team didn’t get underway until this past week when it finally got on the course for its opening matches of the 2023 season.
“We, typically, will have one or two matches under our belt going into spring break week and we can learn from what we did going into vacation. Even though we don’t typically have matches during vacation week, we do have practices and that gives me an idea of what we need to focus and work on over the course of those practice sessions. We didn’t have that this time and I do think, to a certain degree, having the break without any matches did contribute to a lack of focus,” said coach Rich Garceau.
The Centaurs finished 50-50 in their openers as they scored a 5-2 victory over the Fitch Falcons at the Shennecossett Golf Club in Groton but lost to Bacon by that same score at the Chanticlair Golf Club on Thursday.
Both of those matches had something else in common.
Woodstock was lacking its top player as senior Davis Simpson was unavailable.
“Davis is a great golfer, but he also brings a lot of leadership to the team and the other guys on the team really do follow his lead,” Garceau said.
Senior Curtis Lefebvre shot a 48 to lead the Centaurs against the Falcons in Groton while both Logan Rawson and Logan Edwards finished with a 51 total.
“It was a divisional match so we needed to win it. I kind of feel like we dodged a bullet because it was the highest team score (202) that I ever had at the varsity level since I’ve been coaching so I wasn’t really happy with that,” Garceau said. “But, at the same time, we really haven’t had the opportunity to practice on longer golf courses. We’ve had access to Roseland (the Woodstock Golf Course) quite a bit which has been fantastic to us but the course is a little short and you go to Shennecossett where the wind was blowing and it was cold and, suddenly, reality sets in.”
Donnie Sousa and Rawson both carded 45s in the loss to the Bobcats while Lefebvre shot a 47 and two newcomers to the varsity, Braiden Saucier and Aidan O’Connor, didn’t disappoint for their first times out as both shot a 50.
“We certainly played better,” Garceau said. “I told the guys if we had played a decent round of golf, I thought we would be in a dogfight. I thought Bacon was good, but I don’t think we played our best. Braiden and Aidan played decent.”
While the Centaurs lost by three points, they were only three strokes behind the Bobcats.
“I think if we play our best golf, we can compete with East Lyme. I think they are a very good team this year. I think the guys are ready and are ready to have Davis back and he is ready to come back,” Garceau said. “I’m still really excited about this year and the next few years.”
Girls’ Tennis
East Lyme swept the four singles matches against the Centaurs at the Pomfret School and in high school tennis, that guaranteed it the win.
The Vikings posted a 6-1 victory over the Centaurs Tuesday.
Woodstock did get a victory from its first doubles team of senior Paige Owens and Stella Atchinson who prevailed 7-5, 6-1 over East Lyme’s duo of Riddki Bansal and Nina McKiernan.
Centaurs’ freshman Wynter Worth put up a great effort at second singles for Woodstock but was downed by Avni Kabra 2-6, 6-2, 10-7.
Woodstock found the going equally as difficult in Groton on Thursday where the Fitch Falcons handed them a 7-0 setback.
The Falcons won all seven matches in straight sets.
Gianna Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds came closest for the Centaurs as they battled Ava Kennedy and Katie Virtue tough before falling 7-5, 10-6 in third doubles.
Both the East Lyme and Fitch matches were ECC non-divisional competitions. The Centaurs are now 2-2 overall.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions, page 2:
The Centaurs hit the ball hard all week and catcher Maddie Martinez got in on the action with this hard single against the Whalers in a 13-run second inning.
Photo by Marc Allard.
Logan Rawson chips onto the fifth green from just in front of the cart path. Photo by Rich Garceau
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