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Champs
Coach Owen Finberg celebrates with the first-ever Prep Premier League championship trophy following a 3-1 victory over Northwood School. Photo by Holly Singleton/Woodstock Academy.


In one day
Centaurs claim National Prep
Soccer Championship and
first league title
It will be a date, time and place that those associated with the Woodstock Academy prep soccer program will remember for a long time.
The Centaurs Prep 1 team captured the inaugural Prep Premier League championship with a 3-1 win over Northwood School Saturday in New Jersey.
Even better, before Woodstock Academy left the complex, it was assured that it would be named National Prep Soccer Champions.
The senior writer for prepsoccer.com, Sheldon Shealer, informed coach Owen Finberg of that designation.
Prepsoccer.com covers interscholastic and pre-college soccer across the country with a staff of high school writers for different regions with Shealer overseeing them.
Shealer has been associated with ESPN high school and Top Drawer soccer as well as a number of other sites that promote the level of the game that Woodstock Academy now sits atop of.
“He was in attendance and watched the whole final and presented us the (league) trophy and made it known that we would be the National Champions as well,” Finberg said.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for the program, the players and the staff, and we could not have done it without the support of the community. I hope all of the Woodstock Academy, alumni and friends are proud of our group and what we achieved. For our first year of being here as a re-invigorated program, first year for me, it’s certainly huge just to get the word out about the level of program that we have and to start off with a championship. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
The match with the Huskies began in similar fashion to the 3-2 win the Centaurs posted earlier in the season.
“There were some similarities and it didn’t necessarily make us feel more comfortable about being down but, at least, we were confident we could overcome it,” Finberg said.
In that game at home against Northwood, a set play off a corner produced the early lead for the Huskies. On Saturday in New Jersey, the same thing happened.
Early in the match, a free kick for the Centaurs just over midfield did not go their way. The kick ended up in Northwood’s possession and the Huskies made a quick counterattack.
With the Woodstock center-backs in the box on the other end of the field looking for a ball to head, the Huskies broke quickly downfield and scored.
The Centaurs answered quickly.
Halfway through the first half, David Cho scored his second goal of the season, both coming against Northwood.
The attacking midfielder worked his way past a trio of Northwood defenders, got the goalie out of position and put the attempt home with his left foot.
“It was a really smart finish and composed play to even it up,” Finberg said, “Once that hit the back of the net; everyone was feeling a bit more confident. It got us quickly right back into the game, settled us down and allowed us to control the rest of the half.”
Just 10 minutes later, Hendrix Mota took a pass from Max Maneke, made a nice run into space, and put home what proved to be the game winner from about 15 yards out.
It was the sixth goal of the season for Mota.
“He came in just to the right of the goal, was able to cut it back past the goalkeeper to the far post,” Finberg said.
The Centaurs got a little help from the Huskies for the insurance tally which came early in the second half.
David Lee got past the Northwood center-back, dribbled into the penalty box and was taken down from behind.
The result was a red card as the yellow card infraction was the second yellow of the match for the center-back.
It also gave Lee a penalty kick opportunity.
He cashed it in for his seventh goal of the season.
The Centaurs had advanced to the championship match with a 2-0 win over the Phelps School from Pennsylvania in a semifinal on Friday.
“Both games were played in pretty windy conditions which made it more difficult for us. There was a 10-15 mile per hour wind and Phelps plays a very direct style and has a couple very good and dangerous attacking players. It was definitely difficult because they play a different style than us and we had to deal with the bigger balls and the unpredictability of those in the wind,” Finberg said.
The match was scoreless at the break.
“We did a very good job defensively despite the difficult conditions and we limited their opportunities. Once we went ahead in the second half, we were able to manage the game very well and see it out,” Finberg said.
Jude Essuman scored his fifth goal of the season to put the Centaurs in that comfort zone.
Daniel Valdes later added his second goal of the year off the first assist of the season for Syracuse-bound Kelvin Da Costa.
The Centaurs finished the season with a 15-0-1 overall record.
Finberg said the Prep Premier League, as a whole, was a big success in its first year of existence.
“There was a ton of interest from college coaches. There were a lot of competitive games across all of the league fixtures. We were looking for competitive matches and exposure for our players. There was a lot of college coaches there this (past) weekend and a lot of emails and texts and conversations already (that the championship match) was one of the best matches they had seen,” Finberg said.
Finberg said the hope of the league now is to continue and grow the footprint of the league with potential expansion for next year.
Now comes a little Thanksgiving break for the Centaurs before they go back into training until the Christmas break.
“We’re giving them this week off because they have worked incredibly hard. Their bodies and minds deserve a respite from training and just a chance to bask in the glory that they have accomplished this fall,” Finberg said.
At the beginning of 2024, the Centaurs will return to the field to play in some matches, mostly against club teams, as well as some college showcases and tournaments.

Prep 2 Picks Pair of Victories
The Prep 2 soccer team also traveled to New Jersey this past weekend to play a couple of showcase matches.
The Centaurs finished with a 12-4-2 record with a 2-1 win over the Pennsylvania Rush on Friday afternoon and a 2-0 victory over the Cedar Stars on Saturday.
The two wins were helpful as the Prep 2 team was coming off a tough loss to Putnam Science Academy in the Global Education Sports Partners League championship match the previous weekend.
“Everything is either a win or a lesson and that’s what we tried to impart to the guys. The guys are younger and at a different stage in their careers (than their Prep 1 counterparts) and they did a remarkable job to bounce back from that,” Finberg said.
The pressure of a title match and a pair of victories prior combined to work against the Centaurs in the match with the Mustangs.
“Our approach to that Putnam Science match, the maturity with which we prepared, was probably not up to the level that was needed to win a championship. For some of the guys, it was the first time to play for a trophy. Beating them twice previously didn’t help and we didn’t give the Mustangs the proper respect that every opponent deserves,” Finberg said.
“We put in two very good performances against good teams. We scored some great goals in both games and had opportunity for more,” Finberg said.
Pennsylvania took the early lead, scoring just nine minutes in on Friday.
But Jaiden Banton tied things up with a goal off an assist from Ignacio Hahn.
Nico Ochoa delivered the game winner, his fifth of the season.
Banton got things going for the Centaurs against the Cedar Stars with his team-best ninth goal of the season.
He was the team’s “Golden Boot” winner as the leading scorer for Prep 2.
“He’s a guy who has played remarkably well,” Finberg said of Banton. “He has continued to improve; has been the best player on the field several times this year and I’m really excited for his continued development.”
Jorge Castellanos assisted on the Banton goal.
Xavhi DeRoza scored his third goal of the season for the other Centaur goal.
Daniel Covelli stopped a penalty kick in goal for Woodstock to preserve the shutout
“It was great for the (Prep 2 team) to finish the fall season on a high as well and to showcase themselves and contribute to the overall wonderful feeling over the weekend with all four of our games resulting in wins,” Finberg said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy


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Champs
The Woodstock Academy Prep 1 soccer team celebrated a pair of firsts this past weekend as the Centaurs were named Prep Soccer National Champions by prepsoccer.com after a 3-1 win over Northwood School in the Prep Premier League championship match.

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