Roundup
Centaurs state
tourney hopes
still alive
The last week of the boys’ and girls’ tennis regular season is upon us. After that, Siana Green can catch her breath a bit.
She started as the boys’ head coach and then inherited the girls’ program as well which has made things interesting.
“Keeping track of the two teams, especially the past two weeks, where everybody has four or five matches. That was a lot,” Green said. “You try to keep track of who is making it to States, who is not, who will be there to coach on what day. Practices are a breeze, but when it comes to matches, and when kids are sick and changes have to be made in the lineup, and I’m not there to come up with a new lineup, it can be very stressful.”
There are still goals to be had. Right now, both the girls and boys have chances to make States.
The girls have the easier road. After a 7-0 win over Montville Saturday, the Centaurs are 5-6 with three matches still to play.
Woodstock still has to travel to play undefeated Stonington, host Ledyard on Senior Night and finish up a match with Killingly that was interrupted by a thunderstorm last week.
The Centaurs need to win one of those matches to qualify to play in the state tournament.
Woodstock has won three in a row, all by the same 7-0 score, despite having to shift the lineup a bit in one of those wins.
Top singles player Ellie Bishop-Klee sat out the win over NFA to get a little break with Wynter Worth, Emma Massey and Peyton Bentley all moving up and Gianna Musumeci slipping into a singles match.
Musumeci had to work a bit for a 9-7 pro set victory over Talia Gonzalez but it was the closest of the four singles matches.
“The change in the lineup allowed some of the girls who don’t normally get a chance to play an opportunity. It was nice to see that they can handle stepping up,” Green said.
Kate McArthur and Delilah Kesselman stepped into the first doubles with Catherine Trudeau and Madilyne Holloway at second and Abby Budd and Linnea Barlow at third. All posted pro set victories.
The Centaurs followed that up with another shutout victory over Montville.
Bishop-Klee returned and posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Anna Beauchene while Worth (6-1, 6-4), Massey (6-0, 6-0) and Bentley (6-1, 6-1) all posted singles victories.
Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds won at first doubles with McArthur and Kesselman winning at second and Holloway and Margaux Reck at third.
“It would be great,” Green said of the Centaurs making the state tournament. “I think the momentum of (three wins in a row) really helps. We have a tough match against Stonington but I’m hoping we can come up with a more positive result against Ledyard for their Senior Day.”
Woodstock, the three-time defending ECC Div. II champs, could earn a share of the title for a fourth consecutive year with a win over the Colonels on Tuesday.
Ledyard won the first encounter, 6-1.
On the boys’ side, the Centaurs really needed to pick up a win against Ledyard this past week.
Unfortunately, the Colonels were not cooperative as they posted a 6-1 win over the Centaurs on Wednesday and followed that up with a 5-2 victory on Saturday.
“It was tough,” Green said. “The first match I thought was going to be close and competitive but Owen (Rigney), our top singles player was out sick. It shifted everyone last minute and we didn’t get the outcome that I expected,” Green said.
With Rigney out, the Centaurs had to move everyone up and only Cang Nguyen, who is now 7-3 in singles, was able to pick up a singles victory.
The other matches all went to Ledyard in straight sets.
“On Saturday, I was optimistic again but Tyler’s been hurt so we had to move him to doubles and it changed the lineup again,” Green said. “It was exciting in the sense that our players had different opponents but it just didn’t go our way.”
Ethan Staples at third singles picked up a win as did Chamberlin and Ryan Chabot at first doubles.
Woodstock did have a win sandwiched between the two losses as it downed New London on Thursday, 4-3.
Rigney, Nguyen and Chabot were able to pick up singles victories with Chamberlin and Steven Shen wrapping up the win at first doubles.
“That was a great win because New London has improved a lot this year. It was a little nerve-wracking because I saw a lot more W’s going to them. I was nervous going in, knew they could beat us so a 4-3 win was good because it could have gone either way,” Green said.
The Centaurs boys finished the week with a 5-7 record but have only two matches left and need to win one of them, against either East Lyme or Fitch, neither of whom are pushovers, to qualify for state tournament play.
Boys’ Lacrosse
The magic number was three after a home loss early in the week. Now, it’s two.
The boys’ lacrosse team, in its quest to make the state tournament, needs just two more wins in its final four games to get there after a 14-3 win over the Ledyard-Griswold co-op on Thursday.
A 14-3 loss to Somers on Saturday didn’t change the mathematics much with the exception that the Centaurs now must win two of their last three matches.
Woodstock still has games left against Fitch and Montville on Tuesday and Thursday at home and play at Norwich Free Academy on Friday night.
Jared Neilsen came alive against the Colonels in Ledyard.
After scoring just one goal at home in a loss to Waterford on Tuesday, Nielsen exploded for six tallies against the Colonels, five of those coming in the second half as the Centaurs pulled away.
The senior now has 39 goals and 15 assists on the season.
While Nielsen was active late, fellow senior Lucas Theriaque was the go-to guy early.
Theriaque scored one first quarter goal and added three in the second as Woodstock bolted to an 8-0 halftime lead.
Dylan Phillips added a pair of goals in the win.
The Centaurs knew Somers would be tough on Saturday.
The Spartans are one of the top teams in Class S and showed why.
The visitors broke out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and then extended that to 9-1 by the half.
Phillips scored the only first half goal and added another in the second while Neilsen also scored in the loss.
Coach Jason Tata had only one word to describe the early week match against Waterford.
“I walked into the huddle and I told the guys, ‘Bummer.’ That’s all it was, just a bummer. Sometimes, games fall that way,” Tata said.
The Centaurs lost a tough one, 7-6, in overtime to the Lancers.
 “The magic number is two and any of those games could bounce our way. We could look at a ton of different games for this year that have bounced the other team’s way. (Tuesday’s game) with Waterford, the NFA game, we could get a game that bounces our way. We’re not dead yet,” the Centaurs coach added.
Woodstock tied the match with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left in the contest on a Seamus Coleman tally off a Henry Wotton assist to tie the game at five.
Neilsen then put the Centaurs ahead with 1:54 to play with a goal off a Theriaque assist.
But Waterford came back to tie on a Griffin Neal goal just 25 seconds after Neilsen’s tally to force overtime.
Just 1:57 into the extra period, Ben Dubick got the sudden- death score to give the Lancers the win.
“Fifteen seconds of errors, but we’re not throwing away the other 48 minutes of the game where we played tremendously. (Woodstock Academy goalie) Quan (Sangasy) stood on his head. He’s been doing that all year,” Tata said.
It is a young team and Tata is hoping that his team can learn from those 15 seconds of miscues.
“It’s very small details, fifteen seconds of legitimate mistakes. A push here, a ground ball there, an unsettled offense. That’s our game. I think we’re learning, slowly but surely, across the board. These are situations you can’t coach. You can’t coach a minute-30, up one, what do we do? Overtime, man-down, what do we do? You can’t set up those scenarios so it’s good for them to get the full game experience and learn from it,” Tata said.
The Centaurs did get a strong effort from Phillips who finished with three goals.
“I felt like he was in his own little slump where he got into his own head for awhile and wasn’t trusting himself during games. This was a perfect game for him. Jared was getting locked off and someone else had to step up and Dylan played a heck of a game,” Tata said.
 Softball
Win two out of three. — That’s what the softball team has to accomplish if it hopes to get into postseason play.
The Centaurs have Killingly, whom they have defeated this season, but then will have to get past either East Lyme or Fitch which will not be an easy proposition.
But the Centaurs should have momentum going in as they came up with a pair of nice victories to end the week.
Woodstock traveled to West Haven, normally a stellar program in the state, and left with a 7-3 win over the Blue Devils.
It was the sixth victory of the season for the Centaurs in 17 games.
West Haven slipped to 6-12.
Grace Delsanto had one of her best outings in the circle as she went the distance and allowed only four hits to pick up the win.
It took her teammates a bit to get going as Woodstock trailed, 2-0, going into the sixth inning.
But with two outs, the Centaurs found some life.
Mia Pannone reached on an error and Ellary Sampson walked to set the stage for Delaney Anderson.
The senior ripped an opposite field triple to score both and tie the game.
The Blue Devils surged back ahead in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run but Woodstock wasn’t done yet.
Singles by Maci Corradi and Savannah Schley, a fielder’s choice and a walk loaded the bases. Sarah McArthur cleared them with her second double of the game.
Pannone singled and McArthur came around on a single by Sampson. An Anderson ground out delivered the final Woodstock Academy run.
The Centaurs bats awakened earlier in the week as they unloaded a 24-hit attack against Lyman Memorial and posted a 16-5 victory.
McArthur had four hits, including a bases-clearing triple in a five-run seventh inning, and drove in six runs to pace Woodstock from the lead-off spot in the order.
Campbell Favreau and Pannone also contributed four hits each for the Centaurs while Schley had three hits and drove in three runs.
Loretta Svedarsky had a three-run homer for Lyman Memorial (3-10).
Boys’ Golf
It just depends on how one looks at it.
The boys’ golf team finished either fourth or sixth overall in the Wildcat Invitational last week, the first 18-hole tournament for high school boys of the season, held annually at the Norwich Golf Course.
Immediately following the tournament, the Centaurs were tied for sixth with RHAM with a 334 total and were the second ECC team, two strokes back of East Lyme.
But the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has a new rule this year that allows teams to participate in two tournaments a year that do not count toward the amount of matches played.
So, the day after the Wildcat was played, East Lyme, Bacon Academy and Fitch were pulled from the leaderboard as all three schools and four other non-ECC schools opted to list the Wildcat as an exhibition match.
That raised the Centaurs, who are using it as an official date, into a fourth-place tie with RHAM.
Portland came out on top as a team with a 312 total.
It did not change the individual places as senior Donny Sousa tied for second overall with a 2-over par 74. Junior teammate Logan Rawson tied for fifth with a 76. Cameron St. Pierre of Shelton was the individual winner with an even par 72.
 “I believe that Donny’s second-place tie at the Wildcat and the team’s finish overall was a true testament to the hard work they have been putting in, away from our team practices,” said coach Rich Garceau. “We didn’t get onto a golf course until nearly 3 weeks into the season so to some extent we are still kicking off some of the winter rust from our swings, but I am really seeing Donny and Logan developing into a force to be reckoned with.”
Not only are they delivering on their own, they are also bringing along the younger Centaurs behind them.
“We have a relatively young group that has consistently been playing at the varsity level and Donny and Logan’s leadership is really helping those kids grow, which makes me very excited for the end of the season’s progress,” Garceau added.
But the success was not limited to just the Wildcat.
Woodstock raised its record to 9-2 with two victories over the course of the week.
The Centaurs downed Fitch in Groton, 7-0.
Rawson and Sousa were again at the head of the class with a pair of 39 totals. Freshman Brady Hebert carded a 44.
Woodstock then posted a 6-1 victory over Bacon Academy.
Bacon’s Alex Gallardo and John Ceruti both had to feel good about themselves as they came into the clubhouse with 1-under par 35 totals.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, that would net them a half-point.
Rawson posted a 3-under 33 while Sousa tied Ceruti with a 35.
“Logan and Donny had a great week this week.  The thing that I noticed about both of them during their rounds at the Wildcat and on Thursday when we hosted Bacon Academy is that they are having fun.  They seem to be reaching that maturity where an athlete, regardless of the sport, can put a bad shot or play behind them and move forward,“ Garceau said. “Both Donny and Logan have not been playing perfect golf over the past week, but what they have been able to do is maintain their focus and recover from a bad shot.  I could say that when they were younger golfers, a bad shot or hole could have easily ruined the rest of their round, but now, bad shots or a bad hole seems to bring them to another level of focus which is great to see in young athletes and that is what I am seeing in both of those two young men.”
Golf is the one sport that still has some time left prior to tournament play.
The Centaurs have five matches left prior to the ECC Championship on May 30.
It means they still have time to work on some things.
 “We are still a bit inconsistent around the greens.  Earlier in the year, our tee box mantra was ‘Make it a Fairway Finder’ and that seems to be working, our drives haven’t got us into too much trouble but our wedges seem to be the issue so that is going to be the focus of any practice days we have ahead of us, going into the ECC Tournament,” Garceau said.
Girls’ Golf
The girls’ team has put a lot on Reagan Scheck’s young shoulders. And the freshman has responded.
“I’m feeling good. I really like the team and it has good energy and I’m just really happy because I had a bad week last week and coach (Earl Semmelrock) has really taught me a lot. It’s helped me and I’m breaking 50 now,” Scheck said.
She shot a 48 last week to lead Woodstock (2-6) to a 221-241 win over Suffield.
“Getting a win does help the kids’ morale. They can see how they are improving. We knew it would be a difficult year so we earmarked a few matches that we thought we would be able to win and that was one of them. They did their job,” Semmelrock said.
Scheck said where Semmelrock has helped most is with the mental game. He has told her to be focused on her swing and her attitude. Because in golf, if you think you are going to hit a bad shot, you probably will. He has also told her to keep away from big scores on a hole and for Scheck, that usually takes place around the green.
“Chipping is a little rough. I’m usually good at putting so I feel like I’m getting better with my short game and that will definitely help those big numbers go away,” the freshman said.
The thing she likes most about the high school game – the camaraderie.
“It’s weird because I feel like people are a lot more friendly than in junior golf where it is very, very competitive. Everyone is a little on edge. I like the competition but this is definitely better because you’re on a team instead of being by yourself. That’s very helpful,” Scheck said.
She said she “can always be better” and is shooting for the low-to-mid 40’s by the end of the season.
Bella Mawson shot a 54 against the Wildcats and Lily Moran added a 55.
“That was our best score of the year,” Semmelrock said. “It’s hard to shoot low scores when kids are beginners but we are seeing consistency. Reagan seems to be settled in the high 40s, Bella is starting to come down to mid to low 50’s and everyone is capable of doing better. Isabelle Tedisky, one of our first-year players, had her best score of the year so we’re seeing improvement.”
Boys’ Volleyball
Faster than fast. That’s how the season has gone for the Centaurs boys’ volleyball team in its inaugural season.
“Fast is an understatement,” coach Adam Bottone said. “I know that the spring season is fast but that this was insane. In less than a week, we will be done with the regular season. The following week is the league tournament and then it’s States. It’s nice but you don’t want it to be done especially when you have started a program and have seen them get better every day.”
The Centaurs have just two regular season matches to play.
They traveled to Putnam for an early-week contest and return home on Wednesday to play Norwich Free Academy at 5:30 p.m.
The Centaurs (9-8) will have to win one of those to stay above the .500 mark for the season.
They lost their only match last week, 3-0, to Rockville.
The Rams, behind outside hitter Ryan Tierney, downed the Centaurs in straight sets, 25-16, 28-26, 25-19.
“He’s ridiculous. He’s just a lights out hitter. Our game plan was to try and serve at him so he would have to serve and hit which tends to be a little more difficult for hitters to do. He struggles a bit with the float serve. We really wanted to keep him in the back row and while our serves were decent, we weren’t able to put runs together and keep him back there. When he got to the front row, he had a field day with us,” Adam Bottone said.
The coach’s son, Brayden Bottone, led Woodstock with nine kills while Aiden Finch added six. Christian Hart had 12 digs.
It was a week to shore some things up as the Centaurs had only the one match.
“It was a good little break to have,” Adam Bottone said. “We’ve struggled a bit with our serve-receive and have spent a lot of time working on that. While the result wasn’t favorable in the game, the receive certainly improved. We’ve worked on what to do in and out of system and how to fine tune that a bit. (The break) provided us the opportunity to do that for sure.”
Girls’ Lacrosse
For first-year girls’ lacrosse coach Heather Miller, Thursday marked the first Senior Day of the year. But not the last.
Miller will be back in the fall and will have another crop of seniors on the field hockey team to celebrate Senior Day with.
Five members of the team were honored prior to the match with Bacon Academy.
“As a player, in high school and in college and with eight years in coaching, I’ve seen a few of these,” Miller said of Senior Day celebrations. “It’s really interesting for me because being in the Navy, we moved every three years so I got to see how different (programs) celebrated Senior Day and got to be on the journey with different girls and different programs,” Miller said. “Each one is always special. These girls are my first Woodstock program, so it’s extra special.”
Sophia Petrella, Ava Hovestadt, Leah Danis, Caroline Harris and Piper Sabrowski are the five departing seniors.
“I hope that they check in on us and that we stay in touch. I hope they come back for games because some won’t be far away. Whatever they do, their future is going to be very bright,” she added.
The match that followed had some bright spots early but it was the Bobcats who pulled out the 11-4 victory.
Harris scored twice and Sabrowski also tallied in the first quarter as the Centaurs (1-13) built a 3-2 lead over Bacon.
Kaelyn Tremblay did get a second quarter tally for the Centaurs but the Bobcats put five goals on the board to hold a 7-4 halftime lead.
Bacon scored the last four goals of the match in the second half.
Woodstock was on the road earlier in the week, playing at Wheeler.
The ECC Div. III leaders downed the Centaurs, 19-6.
Harris scored four times while Sabrowski and Maggie Marshall added goals. Kaylee Saucier had an assist.
Girls’ track
The girls’ track team was supposed to have taken on Norwich Free Academy last week to determine the ECC Div. I regular season title. Rain pushed that event back to this week.
The Centaurs did take part in the Greater Hartford Invitational track meet last weekend and earned a host of medals.
Juliet Allard placed first in the 300m hurdles and qualified for Nationals in a time of 45.77 seconds. Avery Plouffe was second in the shotput (33-feet, 1-inch); Lily Morgis was third in the discus (106-3); Jillian Edwards was third in the high jump (5-feet) and sixth in the 100m hurdles (17.04 seconds); Reegan Reynolds placed fourth in the triple jump (32-11) and Emma Weitknecht was fifth in the 300m hurdles (48.89 seconds).
Plouffe also established a school record in the hammer throw on Friday when she threw 107-7 to finish fifth overall.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy



Peyton Bentley returns with a back hand at Killingly High School last week. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.


Girls’ track athletes Avery Plouffe, Reegan Reynolds, Jillian Edwards and Juliet Allard display the bling they received from their efforts at the Greater Hartford Invitational Saturday. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.

The girls’ lacrosse team honored its five seniors, from left: Leah Danis,Ava Hovestadt, Sophia Petrella, Piper Sabrowski and Caroline Harris, last week. Photo by Collin Singleton/Woodstock Academy).

..