Centaurs boys’ soccer team
captures  first victory
The first win can sometimes be the hardest to get.
Woodstock Academy first-year boys’ soccer head coach Dave St. Jean would likely agree with that as he was just hoping it would come and soon.
The Centaur opened with four losses, fought to 1-1 draws in the next three matches and last week, finally, picked up their first win. Woodstock posted a 4-1 victory over Fitch.
“It was a great first win,” St. Jean said. “The team played well. The team played together. We had a good practice (Monday). I expected them to come out. They did.”
Eight minutes into the match, the Centaurs forged ahead.
Sophomore Derek Rodriguez Arenas took a pass from Austin Byer and scored his first career goal for Woodstock.
“I saw Austin down on the side of the field and I asked him for the ball. He gave me a good pass and I was able to finish,” Rodriguez Arenas said.
 “He’s been dying all season to get that first goal. He’s worked so hard so it was nice to see him get a couple (Tuesday) and, hopefully, he will get a couple of more,” St. Jean said.
Just six minutes later, Zach Armbruster rifled a shot from 40 yards out that found its way into the back of the Falcons net.
“That was a beautiful shot,” St. Jean said. “He loves ripping the ball from outside and he just has a great shot. He’s been playing great for us in the center-midfield.”
Ten minutes later, Rodriguez Arenas was in the right place at the right time again.
The Centaurs were awarded a corner kick which Armbruster delivered into the middle of the pitch and Rodriguez Arenas headed it home.
“The way that we scored (Tuesday) was nice. We’ve scored on a lot of direct kicks but we haven’t really put passes together and got goals off assists. It was really nice to see beautiful soccer end in a goal,” St. Jean said.
A shot by Garrett Bushey was rejected by the Fitch defense but the rebound ended up on the foot of sophomore Aiden Sanchez who sent it right back at and into the Falcons’ net.
Luca Jump scored the only goal for Fitch (1-7-1, 0-3) with 25 minutes left in regulation.
“We were a little shaky with some of our first touches but once we kind of settled in a bit and got those goals, we just became relaxed and played really well,” St. Jean said.
The Centaurs, who are now 1-4-3 overall and 1-2-1 in Div. I of the ECC do not return to the pitch for a match until Tuesday at home against Windham.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

caption:

Logan Rawson sends the ball downfield. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.