Roundup
Centaurs win
1st and only
home cross-
country meet
Unlike most sports where home games are common, cross-country teams have to value the one that they get. Oftentimes, it is only one.
Such is the case for the Woodstock Academy boys’ and girls’ teams.
The Centaurs had only one home meet on the schedule and they made the most of it as both the boys and girls team swept the competition, Fitch and Killingly.
The boys had a tussle with the Falcons but persevered, 22-35 and also posted a 15-50 win over Killingly to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in Div. I of the ECC.
Coach Josh Welch said: “I knew Fitch could give us some trouble but we ran really well on our course and our kids really did well with the hills. I like dragging teams out to come and see some rolling grass early in the season. It was great for us.”
The boys were led by two seniors, Christian Menounos and Colton Sallum, who finished first and second overall.
Menounos was still recovering from illness and Welch is waiting for him to be truly 100 percent again. Still, he took the lead early and two Fitch runners gradually fell back.
That opened the door for Sallum to pass them and finish second overall.
“Last home meet,” Menounos said with a shake of his head. “I’m just grateful that I’ve gone through four years and have had coach Welch’s guidance and it was nice to finally be able to run at the Fairgrounds. It’s a Woodstock tradition as this was always our home course and it’s nice to finally be able to be here for my last home race.”
The Centaurs had been using the Pomfret Recreation facility before the Fairgrounds course, located in the horse show area, became available again.
That Woodstock course will come in handy when the team travels to the Norwich Golf Course and Wickham Park to traverse similar grassy surfaces with rolling hills in the ECC and Class MM state championships, respectively.
Menounos came home in 16 minutes, 34 seconds while Sallum crossed the line in 16:46.
The Falcons took third and fourth. Centaurs’ freshman Lucas Hecker came up big, however, as he placed fifth overall. Bronson Eddy placed sixth. Sam Green was eighth and Harris Durand 10th.
“He’s doing awesome and I think he had his personal best (17:19) on this course which is showing a lot for him. He just continues to improve. I think half of the boys’ team set personal bests (Tuesday) and that’s with the hills and on a course that I know is accurate, we measured a bunch to make sure everything was perfect. I think they were excited for the home meet, excited for the fan support and they’re also showing that they are getting stronger as the season goes on,” Welch said.
Girls’ Cross-Country
High school students have never been known for their patience. Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain would fit that stereotype. The junior placed first for the girls’ cross-country team which strode past both Fitch (15-49) and Killingly (15-50).
“It’s feels great. I feel like it was a long time in coming,” D’Alleva-Bochain, a first-year runner, said of the win. It was, after all, her fourth cross-country race.
“She just cruised; she just crushed it,” said coach Joe Banas. “There is something about her when she runs up hills, she just seems to really get into it and enjoy it. Other girls are more like, ‘it’s a hill.’ She just loves the hills.”
Olivia Tracy placed second followed by senior Kira Greene and freshmen Ella Petersen and Melanie Dipippo.
For all of the runners involved, it was the first taste of competition on the Woodstock Fairgrounds course.
 “I was pleasantly surprised,” D’Alleva-Bochain said of the course. “Not to be rude, we weren’t exactly excited to run here but it turned out to be surprisingly fast and a really good course. A lot of hills, that’s why we weren’t as excited.”
It was also a good team win as the Centaurs improved to 3-2 overall and 1-2 Div. I of the ECC with a meet at Norwich Free Academy still to come.
“We needed the win,” D’Alleva-Bochain said. “We’ve been performing well but the points have not come together and we haven’t been able to get wins. It feels good to have a win in (the record book).”
Boys’ soccer
Beautiful. There was no better way to describe it. A pass from Trevor Gold on the right side, into the box and on to the foot of Derek Rodriguez Arenas.
Windham keeper Alex Pomo had no chance. And the goal came with just one second left in the first half.
“That was insane,” said first-year head coach Dave St. Jean. “All of the years that I have played and coached soccer, I have not seen a goal go in, turn around and look at the clock and see one second left.”
It made for a pretty easy halftime talk. The momentum and excitement was already in place.
The goal helped power the Centaurs to a 3-0 win over the Whippets.
The Whippets had handed the Centaurs a 2-1 loss in Willimantic earlier in the season.
“We knew after watching the film, that we had dominated the first game. We had the better team and this time, we were healthy. We had Riley Wilcox in there and he makes a big difference and we had (keeper) Eli (Susi) back. It wasn’t the same game as last time,” St. Jean said.
Woodstock got on the board in the first half when Will St. John gave his team the early lead with his fifth goal of the season.
The Centaurs dominated play but couldn’t get any more breathing space until the Rodriguez Arenas-Gold combination.
“I saw Trevor on the wing and asked for the ball. I got enough on it to put it into the net,” Rodriguez Arenas said.
The sophomore had another opportunity with 22:05 left in regulation.
Zach Armbruster took a long pass from Garrett Bushey and took a shot that was deflected by the Windham defense, unfortunately for them, on to the foot of Rodriguez Arenas, who sent it toward the net.
Pomo brushed the ball with his fingers but was unable to pop the ball over the crossbar as it fell behind him and rolled into the net.
It was the fourth goal in the last two matches for the forward.
The defense did the rest as the Centaurs pitched their first shutout of the season with Eli Susi in net.
“I’m so happy with the defense. That’s another group of kids who work incredibly hard. They play hard, give up one counterattack and we end up tied. (Tuesday), they played flawlessly, they won everything. It was fun to watch,” St. Jean said. “I didn’t have to do too much, just bring the popcorn and watch them play.”
Unfortunately, finding the net was a bit more difficult for the remainder of the week.
Later in the week, though, the Centaurs were blanked by the Stonington Bears, 2-0.
That was followed on Saturday by a loss to East Lyme, 3-0.
The Centaurs are now 2-3-1 in Div. I of the ECC and 2-6-3 overall for the season.
Girls’ Soccer
One of the first goals of any high school athletic program is to qualify for the state tournament.
The girls’ soccer team has accomplished that. The Centaurs improved to 9-3 and guaranteed themselves a Class L state tournament berth with a trio of victories over Fitch, the Killingly/Tourtellotte Co-op and Rockville.
“It’s exciting especially being a first-year coach and you want to make an impact, make a difference and to qualify for the state tournament is huge,” said coach Andrea Danforth. “It gives us a little bit of a cushion and it’s well-earned. They deserve it, they have been working hard and now, we just have to take care of the rest of the games.”
It was old home week for Woodstock players in its match with Killingly/Tourtellotte. The multiple towns involved meant the players were more than familiar with each other, having played with and against one another throughout the growing up process.
 “These are their friends, people that they have played with. It’s the small, quiet corner and it’s nice to come out with the win and bragging rights,” Danforth said.
Izzy Selmecki scored her third and fourth goals of the season, one coming off a rebound of a shot by Kaitlyn Teal and the other off an assist from Leah Costa.
Qualifying for the state tournament was more than important to the senior. “It’s my last season, I want to keep it going for as long as I can. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to go to States and, hopefully, we go far,” Selmecki said.
Danforth was happy to see Selmecki get two tallies as she has become a nice complementary scorer to Costa.
“We need someone behind Leah but I tell Izzy often that she doesn’t see her impact on the field. She came out fired up (against Killingly/Tourtellotte) and scored two goals which she can do in any game. I strongly believe that she could also be up at 10 goals, she just has to believe in herself,” Danforth said. “When she puts that extra effort in, it benefits her and benefits the team every time.”
Costa picked up her 11th goal of the season to go with two assists while junior Avery Gallagher added her first tally of the season. Costa picked it up another notch against Rockville.
The senior had a hand in all of the goals in a 5-1 victory in the non-league match.
Selmecki put the Centaurs on the board first with a first half goal off an assist from Costa. Woodstock protected that lead into the second half which is where Costa ignited.
She finished with a hat trick and also assisted on an Amelia Duquette goal to ensure the Woodstock victory.
The Centaurs also added a 3-1 victory over Fitch in Groton earlier in the week.
Costa scored twice in that contest, giving her six goals for the week, with sophomore Elise Coyle picking up a tally as well.
“I’m very happy with our (9-3) record. We’ve talked a lot about what our faults are when we lose and we’re improving on those weaknesses that we have. We have been working hard at practices and executing on the field – I’m happy,” Danforth said.
Football
The hole had been dug early. But the football team was in the process of a major comeback when an unfortunate occurrence helped scuttle its hopes.
The Centaurs had rallied from as much as 21 points down to close to within five points of the Griswold/Wheeler Co-Op program in the third quarter.
Quarterback Sam Clark had just bulled his way into the end zone from 9 yards out. But on the next defensive series, Clark went down with an injury.
To make matters worse, the Wolverines’ Nick Watters answered the Woodstock touchdown with a 60-yard gallop to put the hosts back up by 11.
The Wolverines scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to power past Woodstock in a high-scoring affair, 53-34.
Griswold took the lead early on a 34-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Kolby Mills to junior receiver Aaden Cutter.
After an unsuccessful fake punt by the Centaurs, the Wolverines got the ball back on the Woodstock 38.
Mills ended up taking the ball into the end zone himself on a 1-yard sneak to make it a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter.
The Wolverines were not done yet as they forced a Woodstock punt and Cutter found the end zone for a second time on a 6-yard run.
But Centaur Clark found senior receiver Cam Nason (3 catches, 79 yards) for a 31-yard score to briefly cut the lead to 14 points.
It began a second quarter that would see the two teams combine for 33 points.
Mills found Watters with an 8-yard touchdown pass but the Centaurs came right back with a score of their own on a 67-yard run by Clark (15 carries, 174 yards rushing).
The Wolverines (2-2) answered that with a big play of their own, Mills finding Watters again from 52 yards out to put Griswold up, 33-14.
Clark finished off the first half scoring with another 17-yard scamper to make it 33-21 at the half.
He then brought the Centaurs (2-2) within striking distance with the 9-yard run before being forced from the game with the injury.
Freshman Caydem Herlihy stepped in for Clark and di complete a 37-yard touchdown pass to Nason late in the fourth quarter.
Fortunately for the Centaurs, Clark will have a couple of weeks to recover.
Volleyball
The volleyball team had hoped to clinch a share of the ECC Div. I regular season title on Friday but E. Lyme had other ideas.
The two perennial powers in the league met and the Vikings left as the happier group after posting a 3-2 victory over the host Centaurs.
It was just part of a week that Woodstock probably would like to forget.
The Centaurs had come into the week with an 11-0 record but suffered a 3-2 loss to Conard in West Hartford, lost the heartbreaker in five sets to East Lyme and then on Saturday, just a few hours after the loss to the Vikings, fell to Glastonbury, 3-1.
“How do we get out of it? I don’t know,”  coach Adam Bottone said of the sudden losing streak, “The girls just need to believe in themselves and their abilities. They have to realize that errors will happen, but we have to get better at limiting those errors and if they can do that, have confidence in what they are doing and are more consistent, that is what will get us out of it.”
It was service errors that caused Woodstock troubles against East Lyme.
The Centaurs were serving for set point in the first but an Abby Parulis kill tied the game at 24. Finnley Wilson and Bella Diep followed with kills for East Lyme to give the visitors the 26-24 win.
The Centaurs did, however, look fantastic in the second and third sets where they put away 25-17 and 25-19 victories with Lily Bottone getting 11 of her 19 kills on the night in those two sets.
But the old problem, service errors, struck.
The Centaurs suffered four errors at key points in the fourth set and never recovered, falling to the Vikings, 25-13.
East Lyme pulled into a tie with Woodstock for first place in Div. I of the ECC at 3-1 with the 15-12 win in the decisive fifth set.
Senior Sophie Gronski did have 44 assists in the loss and Izzy Mojica had 14 kills and 16 service points while Cassidy Ladd added 18 digs defensively.
The Centaurs were back on the court just 16 hours after the draining battle with East Lyme to play Class LL foe, Glastonbury, on Saturday.
To make matters worse, the first two sets ran extra with Glastonbury taking the first, 32-30, before the Centaurs rallied for a 27-25 victory in the second.
Glastonbury went home with the win as it captured the next two sets, 25-16 and 25-21.
Lily Bottone led Woodstock again with 14 kills and five aces with Mojica getting 11 kills and Gronski adding 36 assists.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy



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