caption:

Junior Logan Rawson, left, and senior Addison Tyimok are two of the few returning varsity players for the boys’ soccer team this fall. Photo by Marc Allard.


Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden came into the season with one train of thought.
He had lost 14 players to graduation and two of his better returning players decided to leave high school soccer and play at the club level.
This from a team that won just four matches in 2022.
“I was looking at this year as purely a rebuilding year,” Rearden admitted. “I just wanted to lay the foundations for next year.”
Lo and behold, tryouts started and he had close to 60 student-athletes.
“We have some really nice surprises and, in general, it’s a really promising season especially since there are only a couple of seniors in the mix. I’m looking forward to it,” the Woodstock Academy coach said.
Addison Tyimok, who along with Hunter Haynes, are the only seniors on the roster is one of only seven returning players on the team.
“We had summer league games and looked decent enough, got a few wins, but I guess we were all surprised by the quality of the players here,” Tyimok said. “The (seven) returning varsity players knew each other and we knew most of the guys who were on JV last year. We had to introduce ourselves to the new kids.”
But junior defender Logan Rawson said that has been going pretty well.
“Everyone is kind of adapting to each other and doing a pretty good job of it,” Rawson said.
Striker Austin Byer and midfielders Riley Wilcox and Garrett Bushey, along with sophomores Zach Armbruster and Trevor Gold are the only other returning varsity players.
The onus is now on Rearden to put the puzzle together.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on them but we have so many younger lads and even the older ones, don’t have many varsity minutes behind them,” Rearden said. “It’s chemistry. You can have all the right ingredients when you are baking a cake but if you put too much of one and not enough of the other, it falls flat, doesn’t it. It’s trying to figure out who will complement each other. We have a great group of lads and the ones who were here seem to be hitting it off with the new ones.”
If there is one improvement the Centaurs need to see, it’s putting the ball in the net.
Woodstock scored only 13 goals last season.
Byer tied with the now-graduated Noah Page for team-high honors with four each.
“I think we could be not the complete opposite, but we have a lot of potential attack threats,” Rearden said. “I would possibly say the most attacking threats across the squad that I have had since I’ve been here. Potentially. We have to see how they all fit together, their confidence, and can we get off to a good start, but it’s exciting.”
In addition to Byer and Gold, sophomore Alvara De La Quintana and freshman Adrian Vargas will be up in the striker role with Wilcox, Bushey, Armbruster, junior Shaun Mugagga, sophomores Quantiwah Sangasy and Aiden Bachand and freshmen Matt Johndrow and Aiden Sanchez competing for playing time in the middle.
“We have a bunch of good freshmen who can play, we have some exchange students who came in too and they’re doing pretty good,” Rawson said.
Tyimok and Rawson will be in the back along with Haynes, juniors Matt Hernandez, Owen Rigney, and Gabe DiPierdomenico and sophomores Nathan Faucher and William St. John.
Junior Eli Susi had the inside track of starting in the goal.
“I think we just have to play as a team, back each other up anyway we can, and hopefully get a few wins,” Tyimok said. “We’re just working on the chemistry right now and I think we’re really building on that. Then, we will start to focus on how to create and things like that.”
Boys' Soccer Schedule:
Thurs., Sept. 7: vs. Granby, 4:15 p.m.; Wed., Sept. 13:   vs. NFA, 4; Fri., Sept. 15:  vs. Somers, 4; Sat, Sept. 16: vs. Killingly, 11 a.m.; Mon., Sept. 18: at Bacon Academy  4:15; Wed., Sept. 20: vs. Waterford, 4:15; Sat., Sept. 23:  vs. Windham, 11; Tues., Sept. 26: vs. Fitch, 4:15; Sat., Sept. 30 at Waterford, 12:30; Tues., Oct. 3:  at E. Lyme, 6:30; Sat., Oct. 7: at Lyman,  6:30; Tues., Oct. 10: vs. Ledyard, 4:15; Thurs., Oct. 12: at NFA, 7; Sat., Oct. 14: at Stonington, 1; Wed., Oct. 18: at Fitch, 4:15; Wed., Oct. 25: vs. E. Lyme, 4:15.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

.