WOODSTOCK --- The Woodstock Academy volleyball team advanced to Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I tournament semifinals with a 3-0 win over Ledyard.

The beat goes on for The Woodstock Academy volleyball squad.

The Centaurs advanced to the ECC Division I tournament semifinals with a 3-0 win over Ledyard Oct. 27.

The victory was the 14th in a row for the Centaurs (17-3) and ninth straight by shutout.

The sixth-seeded Colonels (8-13) didn’t offer much resistance as the Centaurs prevailed 25-9, 25-14 and 25-6 in the three games.

Caroline Eaton had 11 kills for the Centaurs while Natalie Low added 15 digs and 23 service points.

 Woodstock 3

Avon 0

The streaks continued for the Centaurs on the road.

Woodstock Academy won its 13th straight match and ninth straight by shutout to finish the regular season with a 16-3 record.

Paula Hernandez had 16 kills and 11 digs for the Centaurs while Maddy Gronski added 14 digs and Caroline Eaton had eight kills and 14 service points. Avon fell to 14-5 on the season.

Field Hockey

The Woodstock Academy field hockey team thought it had made a little history Oct. 26.

It turns out, there is still a scenario where the Centaurs may not make the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament.

The Centaurs thought they had qualified for the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament with a 4-0 win over Norwich Free Academy on Thursday combined with a 5-0 Stonington win over Fitch Ledyard.

However, should Fitch/Ledyard defeat Waterford Oct. 28 it would send the three teams into a three-way tie and Woodstock loses out in that scenario as it split with Fitch/Ledyard, but lost twice to Waterford. The Falcons would have split with both teams and would earn the fourth and final berth.

Samantha Mowry scored her second and third goals of the season to account for half of the Centaurs tallies against NFA Oct. 26.

Haley Armstrong also scored and added an assist while sophomore Lily Brin scored her first career varsity goal. Avery Jones and Clara Siegmund added assists to help hand the Wildcats (0-14, 0-11) the loss.

While the Centaurs await the outcome of the Waterford-Fitch/Ledyard game, they also  need to win or tie one of their last two games to qualify for the state tournament.

Woodstock 2

Killingly 0

The Centaurs kept their hopes for their first-ever Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament appearance and a state tournament berth alive with the win, last week.

Haley Armstrong scored off an assist by Avery Jones just 8 minutes, 11 seconds into the match to give The Academy (5-8, 5-6 ECC) the early lead. Emma Durand added the insurance goal off a Natalie Crose feed with 1:06 to play.

The Redgals (4-11, 4-8) had eight corners, six in the second half, but failed to capitalize.  

Soccer

Woodstock 2

E. Lyme 3

Senior Makara Sorel remembers going to the ECC championship game where The Woodstock Academy lost to East Lyme 3-2 in penalty kicks. 

She was in eighth grade. It was the last time the Centaurs advanced to the league title match.

One more win and The Academy will finally return.

The third-seeded Centaurs advanced to an ECC semifinal with a 3-0 win over No. 11 Fitch on the South 

Campus turf Oct. 27.

 “We want this so bad,” Sorel said. “This is my senior year and I know myself and the other seniors are dying to win the ECC  championship.”

Sorel helped keep the dream alive.

She put the Centaurs (14-4) up by a goal with 15 minutes, 46 seconds left when she finished for the Centaurs off a pair of passes.

Ivy Gelhaus had the ball in the middle of the penalty area and saw Aislin Tracey to her left. She made the pass and Tracey directed it to the far corner. Before it got there, Sorel got her foot on it and slipped it into the net for her seventh goal of the season.

Sorel got her eighth and gave the Centaurs a little breathing room with 12:42 left to play.

“Ivy saw my run and I just beat the defenders and tried to place the ball,” Sorel said.

It hit Falcons’ keeper Francesca Foster, but squirted past and found the net. Sorel almost had the hat trick. One of her corners hit the cross bar and bounded out rather than in.

“She’s always there. Two good chances, three shots, two goals, she earned her paycheck (Friday),” said coach Dennis Snelling.

Gelhaus finished things off with her seventh goal of the season.

“It seems like we’re in the semifinals every year. We just need to go a little further. We’re playing well. We’re on a streak of four shutouts and we’re looking forward to playing Bacon again,” Snelling said.

The Centaurs and Bobcats have split their two meetings this season, each winning 1-0 on their home field.

Woodstock 5

Lyman 0

It never hurts when a soccer team has some strong feet.

The third-seeded Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team showed them off Oct. 25 in their 5-0 win over No. 14 Lyman Memorial in an Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament play-in match on the South Campus field.

“We’ve got a lot of girls that can kick the ball hard and the wind was in our favor in the second half,” said Centaurs’ coach Dennis Snelling.

The Centaurs practiced on the South Campus field on Tuesday and knew if the wind was in their favor, scoring from afar was certainly possible.

Ashley LaFramboise did so not once, but twice. The sophomore broke a scoreless tie with 7 minutes, 4 seconds left in the first half when she dribbled free and from 25 yards out found the opposite corner of the net.

She started the scoring for the Centaurs (13-4) and finished it. With just 45 seconds left in the match, a Centaurs’ corner was cleared and it found LaFramboise’s foot about 35 yards out.

Aislin Tracey gave The Academy a 2-0 lead when she scored just 3:51 before the end of the first half.

Brynn Kusnarowis just about ended the hopes for the Bulldogs (6-10-1) with a long-distance shot of her own, a 40-yard floater that came down in the back of Lyman’s net.

Emma Redfield also tallied for the Centaurs.

 

Cross Country

John Ywarsky was more than happy to talk about Stella DiPippo Oct. 28 following the Class L girls state championship cross-country race at Wickham Park in Manchester.

“Stella got her groove back,” The Woodstock Academy coach said with a laugh.

The freshman finished 25th in the field in a time of 21 minutes, 37 seconds to lead The Academy to a 15th place finish with 410 points.

“She was the fourth freshman to finish in Class L, there is nothing to frown about there,” Ywarsky said. “She was trying to get top 12 (and qualify for the State Open) but this was a tough field. (Centaurs assistant coach Joe) Banas was saying that (Morgan) McCormick (from Wilton) who won this race will probably be the Open champion. She looked strong out there.”

DiPippo said she was happy with her performance especially since she bettered her time from the Wickham Park Invitational just a few weeks before.

“It’s really hard because you’re running with girls so much older than you,” DiPippo said.

Senior Hannah Matsas finished up her running career for the Centaurs with an 85th place finish.

“I have a cold or something,” Matsas said. “It definitely wasn’t my best time.” Matsas finished in 23:24.

There was more reason for optimism for the future as freshmen Emily McClure and Iris Bazinet finished 95th and 100th respectively. Sophomore Alexia Bourbeau rounded out the top five in 105th.

“The team, as a whole, did awesome this year. We have so many new freshmen and it’s a really young team. We did well this year and as everyone gets a year older next year, they will get even better,” Matsas said.

Eden Law and Leah Randolph were the other two seniors on the squad.

 

Marc Allard

Sports Information Director

 

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