Roundup
Prep soccer team nabs Jefferson Cup
The Woodstock Academy Prep soccer teams had to travel a little bit to accomplish it but the Centaurs made the voyage to Richmond, Vir., worth it.
The U-19 group of Centaurs won the championship bracket of the Jefferson Cup with three consecutive wins in the championship bracket recently.
“The Jefferson Cup has been around for over 40 years. It has a great reputation in terms of level of play and competitiveness of teams. It’s also a huge draw from around the country,” said coach Owen Finberg.
How large? How about 600 teams in the boys showcase weekend which is comprised of four levels, U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-19.
“It’s a really good selection of teams to play. A lot of college coaches are there and it’s the premiere tournament of its kind on the East Coast,” Finberg said.
Teams are not allowed to choose what bracket they will play in.
The programs are placed based on their competitiveness and previous experience at the Jefferson Cup.
“I’ve been fortunate to have won it before and our team has performed well so the U-19 was in the championship bracket this year after winning their bracket last year. Our U-17 team was probably under-seeded a bit but with their performance, they should move up next year,” Finberg said. “You have to hope for the best. There are a lot of good brackets and being in the championship one is ideal but there is good competition throughout the tournament.”
The Centaurs finished 3-0 with a 3-1 win over Charlotte SA in their final match of the tournament.
Woodstock finished tied atop the bracket with 27 out of a possible 30 points.
“Finishing at the top of the top bracket in the top age group is an awesome achievement for our guys,” Finberg said.
Nicolae Velicico had a goal and two assists while Jonathan Moumboko and Daion Swan-Desilva added tallies.
The Centaurs had to rally for the clinching win as they trailed 1-0 at the break.
It wasn’t easy in the opener either.
The Centaurs found themselves locked up in a 1-1 tie against NVA ECNL in their opener on March 28.
But Tommy Broderick, who scored the first goal, slammed the door on the Centaurs’ opponents with two unanswered goals for the hat trick.
Jasper Cox assisted on one of the goals and Romeo Corino on another.
Cox got one of the tallies for the Centaurs March 29, when Woodstock blanked the NCFC Youth, 2-0.
Xahvi DeRoza assisted on Cox’s goal while Swan-Desilva added the other goal off an assist from Velicico.
“Whenever you are transporting 45 people across six states over four days, plus travel to and from the hotel and we played at different field locations on Friday and Saturday, the whole staff did a great job of just putting the guys in the best position to win. There are a lot of moving parts and a very busy weekend. Everything went well and we even had good weather,” Finberg said.
The U-17 team made it look easy in its final contest as it downed Next Level Soccer SE, 16-0. Penrose Ayeyei scored five times in the win for the Centaurs who finished second in their bracket with 29 out of a possible 30 points.
The Centaurs outscored their opponents 24-2 in the three-match tournament and recorded a pair of shutouts.
That included a 5-2 victory over the Virginia Reign in the opener on Friday.  Giovanni Farina scored two of the goals while Obama Ngarambe, Derek Rodriguez (1 assist) and Fabian Crespo had the others. Oscar Pearman had two assists in the win and Hae Sung Kim aided in a goal as well.
The Centaurs delivered a shutout on Saturday when they downed Penn Fusion, 4-0.
Nico Ochoa, Ngarambe , Richard Sarpong and Jaehee Kim scored the goals.
“It was the highlight of the spring, the showpiece event for us. We’ve played a lot of good teams through the winter. The Best of the East was a big-time event but it was just a couple of games amongst the snow piles in Philadelphia. That was competitive and good exposure but the Jefferson Cup was a big-time tournament and has the attention of the national media,” Finberg said.
The remainder of the spring features a couple of matches before a Memorial Day weekend tournament in Boston.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The weather wasn’t so nice but the results were as the first Saturday of the spring season got off to a wet start.
The girls’ lacrosse team opened with a win on the road as it escaped from Killingly with a 10-8 victory. Junior Kaylee Saucier put the ball into the net seven times for the Centaurs while Clara Dowdle added two goals and assisted on five others. Junior Baylee Rosinski had the other goal in the win.
The boys’ volleyball team also had a short trip to make for its opener as it posted a 3-1 win over the Clippers in Putnam. Brayden Bottone had 11 kills and 10 points for the Centaurs while Owen Budd added eight kills, Christian Hart had 12 digs and Weston Mission had 21 assists.
And the boys’ lacrosse team prevailed easily over Norwich Tech, 19-2. Dylan Phillips led the Centaurs attack with five goals and an assist while Patrick Griswold added three goals and helped on two others. Corey Lafond, Keegan Covello, Camden Marshall and Xander Miller all had two goals apiece in the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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