Roundup
Centaurs Girls’ Golf team off to a nice start
 Woodstock Academy veteran girls’ golf coach Earl Semmelrock, in his 20th season at the helm of the Centaurs, experienced something this past week that he hasn’t seen in quite some time.
“It has been a while since we had three girls score in the 40’s. Based on what I am seeing, I expect to have a match soon where we have four players in the 40s,” Semmelrock said.
The individual efforts led to a nice overall finish on Thursday for Woodstock as it posted one of its best scores in recent memory against Stonington, downing the previously undefeated Bears, 188-226.
It capped off a nice first week to the season for the Centaurs who also defeated Lyman Memorial 211-235 and Suffield 212-234.
“I’m very happy with that start,” Semmelrock said, “The girls are enthusiastic and trying to get better. Reagan (Scheck) and Lily (Moran) at the top of the lineup gives us a great chance to get a jump start in our matches. Isabelle (Tedisky) and Colbie (O’Connor) at the three and four slots and I’m very excited for what is happening after that.”
Scheck has been the medalist in all three matches.
The junior carded a 43 against both Lyman Memorial and Suffield and a 41 on her home course versus Stonington.
Moran has not been too far off that pace with a 49 against Suffield, a 53 on a tough Mohegan Sun course and a 43 at home against the Bears.
O’Connor joined her two older teammates with a 48 against Stonington.
Freshman Brianna Beck almost broke into the 40’s category but had to settle for a 50 against Stonington.
“There are five girls fighting for the remaining two varsity spots. Finley (Hamilton) has started at five but is being pushed hard by Abby (Langevin), Brianna, Addie (Beams) and (Elizabeth Thomas). It is a good problem to have for sure. The competition will bring out the best in every player. They all want to contribute. Our two freshmen (Beck and Beams) have shown the potential to play good golf,” Semmelrock said.
Improvement may not only come from the players, according to Semmelrock, but from the course itself.
The teams have basically been dealing with winter conditions which has impacted both the playing surface and above.
The Thursday match with Stonington saw temperatures in the 60’s but the wind was whipping to near 30 miles per hour at times.
Cooler, almost raw, conditions greeted golfers earlier in the week and many courses have just aerated greens creating putting issues.
“I am hopeful that improvement in the weather and course conditions will also help bring scores down. We have three more matches this coming week and I’m excited for them. Time will tell but I’m cautiously optimistic,” Semmelrock said.
 
Boys’ Volleyball
Happy, but not overly surprised. The boys’ volleyball team has reached the halfway point of the season with an undefeated record.
“I would be lying if I said that we didn’t expect that to be the case,” said coach Adam Bottone. “I’m definitely happy about it. I think we’re on par with what our expectations were for the season. We have some tough games coming up, Newington was a battle for us during spring break and that shows when we start to play other teams, play tougher competition regularly, we’re going to have to bring our top game. We have Farmington on Tuesday and that will be a big one because they are having a very good year.”
The Centaurs had very little difficulty reaching the 10-0 mark this past week. (11-0 when a forfeit victory over Cheney Tech is added on).
Woodstock Academy downed Putnam, 3-0, to start the week and didn’t allow the Clippers more than 11 points in a set.
Brayden Bottone led the Centaurs with 16 kills while Owen Budd added eight. Evan Chernik had 10 aces and Christian Hart 11 digs in the short contest.
The Centaurs had to work a little harder against Computer Science Academy where they still posted a 3-0 victory in Enfield but surrendered 19, 21 and 21 points to the opposition in the three sets.
Hart had 13 service points, including four aces, and tossed in 15 digs on the defensive side.
Brayden Bottone again led the way with 16 kills while Chernik tossed in six.
Woodstock Academy finished off the week with a 3-0 win at home over Norwich Tech and, guess what, Brayden Bottone had 16 kills again.
Chernik had 20 service points, Budd 13 and both had six aces while Jake Henderson contributed 22 assists.
“We’re thrilled,” Brayden Bottone said. “Starting off the season undefeated is a great feeling even though we don’t have the most intense competition that we could have, it’s still great to be there. It has been useful to have the entire starting lineup back, most of us play club together, and it has been beneficial to have that.”
It’s also beneficial to know that it won’t change any time soon.
The Centaurs have only three seniors, Weston Mission, Vaughn Buzak and Gavin Hecker. Hecker has not even participated in a game as he transferred in from Norwich Free Academy and had to sit the first half of the season which means he will be entering the rotation this coming week.
Everyone else will return next season.
“We’re losing only a couple of seniors and most of the people on my club team will be coming back so we should be, arguably, even better next year,” Brayden Bottone said.
The team has been getting contributions from most everyone, but every team can work on improvement somewhere.
“”I think we need to do a better job of maintaining energy especially in low stakes, low competition matches. If we start to slip against those teams, when we get to more competitive matches, we’re not going to know what to do,” Brayden Bottone said.

Girls’ Tennis
It’s the ups and downs of playing third doubles in high school.
Sometimes, the match is already over when you are finally able to get on to the court.
But there are other times when the spotlight suddenly shines on you.
Such was the case on Thursday for the girls’ tennis team third doubles pairing of Mariia Oliinyk and Emma Mairson.
The two teams were locked in a tight battle with Waterford at the Pomfret School courts and the decision came down to the last match.
Oliinyk and Mairson were up to the task as they battled for three sets, pulling out the 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory and giving the Centaurs a 4-3 victory over the Lancers.
“It was great to see them step up,” said Woodstock Academy coach Stephen Wetherell. “They have been consistent all season and it was nice to see them have composure in a high-pressure situation. I’m very pleased with how they continue to perform.”
It was back-and-forth throughout as Gianna Musumeci lost at first singles but Wynter Worth evened things up with a win at second. Kerrigan Reynolds followed with a win at third singles but Catherine Trudeau lost in the fourth slot.
The doubles were also a toss up with Waterford taking first doubles and the duo of Jayda Ngibuini and Andrea De Cos Ortiz winning at second to set the stage for the third doubles showdown.
“Mariia and Emma certainly stood out this week in terms of playing with confidence and also their ability to continue to grow as a team,” said Wetherell. “Wynter and Kerrigan held down the fort against some tough singles players too.”
It was also the Centaurs first match in two weeks as spring break occurred the week before and the match didn’t take place until Thursday.
“I think it just speaks to the character of the girls. They didn’t miss a beat when they came back and they were ready to go,” Wetherell said. “It all stems from our leaders on the team setting the tone and then, everyone holding themselves to a high standard. I’m very fortunate to have a team of not only great tennis players but also genuinely great people.”
Fortunately for Woodstock, the end of the week was a lot easier.
The Centaurs traveled to Norwich and shutout Norwich Free Academy, 7-0, on Friday.
The singles players set the tone as Musumeci, Worth, Reynolds and Trudeau all prevailed to give the Centaurs the win.
Woodstock is now 5-0 on the season and sits atop Div. II in the ECC with a 2-0 mark.

Boys’ Lacrosse
It didn’t start out as a game that senior attack Corey Lafond would have much of an influence on.
He came to the game Saturday battling flu-like symptoms and a sore throat and did not suit up in the first half.
“He’s been sick for the past few days, it hit him after the Stonington game, didn’t practice much on Friday. So we were like ‘Next man up’, we have the pattern, we had Jackson (Aleman) coming into the X spot,” Coach Jason Tata said.
Then, Newington had a one-goal lead at the half.
“He was like, ‘Coach, I’m going to go get my stuff,” Tata said with a smile. “It was a huge boost to our team.”
Lafond not only suited up, he delivered.
Just seconds into the third quarter, Lafond delivered his first assist on a game-tying goal.
After the two teams exchanged goals, Lafond played a key role from behind the net. He had four assists in a span of 1 minute, 51 seconds, that put the Centaurs into the lead, 11-7.
Woodstock did not trail again.
“I just reminded everyone that (Newington) wasn’t any better than us. We have better brotherhood and were playing better as a team. We just rallied together, got the energy up and came back,” Lafond said.
He finished with a career-high 11 assists in a game.
“Unbelievable. That was ridiculous. What was it? 16 seconds into the half and he gets his first assist. He’s a baller. He’s a gamer. He’s a dog,” Tata said with a laugh.
Tata said what Lafond did well was doing what his body allowed considering the circumstances.
He stayed behind the net for the most part, not wandering too far to cut down on the exertion and it worked.
“You could tell that he was just so comfortable. From the moment he stepped on the field, he was looking for those extra passes, knew where he had to look- a phenomenal player,” Tata said. “He knew he wasn’t going to dodge and attack the defense on the interior. He was just going to move the ball and facilitate. They were ball-watching heavily when we moved the ball to the ‘X’ and Corey took advantage of it;”
His teammates also reaped the rewards.
Fellow senior Dylan Phillips (three assists) led the team with eight goals while Aleman and Patrick Griswold scored four each.
“I think this was a good ‘get right’ game. We knew that this would be a tough game, they had several good players, so it was good when we can rally the guys together and get our heads focused,” Tata said.
It was an offensive effort the Centaurs needed as they were limited in their previous two games by East Lyme and Stonington.
“East Lyme is East Lyme, that’s a phenomenal program but we really didn’t play poorly against them. It did feel good to get 18 goals (Saturday) though,” Lafond said.
The Centaurs lost to the Vikings earlier in the week, 13-2. Logan Rumrill and Griswold scored the only goals for Woodstock Academy in that encounter.
Stonington then handed the Centaurs a 10-4 loss on Thursday with Phillips and Aleman scoring as pair of goals each.
The results leaves the Centaurs with a 3-4 overall record.
“I’m really OK with how we’re doing. The games we’ve had have been close, decided by a run here-and-there. We spotted Fitch four goals in the fourth quarter, Waterford and Stonington went on a run in the third quarter. I think we’re in a great spot. The new guys who have not played much are catching up. We’re going to hit our stride pretty soon,” Tata said.

Baseball
One thing is for sure about the baseball team this season.
Never feel certain until the final out is recorded.
That was the case in two of the three games the Centaurs played this week.
On Thursday, the Centaurs entered the seventh inning down by seven runs to Norwich Free Academy in Norwich and put together a furious comeback that fell just one run shy.
The Centaurs followed that up on Saturday by going up seven runs on Bacon Academy only to see the Bobcats rally with two runs each in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to make it close at the end.
All in all, the Centaurs took two out of three and improved to 4-5 on the season and 3-2 in Div. II of the ECC.
Woodstock traveled to Colchester on Saturday to play the Bobcats and quickly put themselves in control of the contest.
In the first inning, Will Ellsworth walked and Colin Ericson singled.
Hayden Maloney brought both runners home with a triple and came home himself when winning pitcher Logan Coutu singled.
The Centaurs added another in the second when Jameson Costa singled and stole his way to third where Rhys Asikainen (3-for-4) brought him home with a single.
Maloney and Coutu followed in the third with lead-off singles and has been the way for the Centaurs this season, two outs followed.
But A.J. Malone didn’t leave them stranded as he singled home Maloney and both Coutu and Malone scored on an Asikainen single for the 8-1 Centaurs lead.
Ellsworth (2-for-3) accounted for much of the rest of the scoring as he knocked in a run with a single in the fifth and hit his second homer in two games, a two-run shot, in the seventh.
Norwich Free Academy probably thought it had the game well in hand on Thursday.
The Wildcats led 10-3 going into the top of the seventh but had a wild ride in the seventh before they could declare a 10-9 victory.
NFA had two big innings of its own, scoring eight times in the fourth and twice in the fifth.
Up by the big margin, the Wildcats were feeling comfortable when they got the first two outs.
That was hardly the case.
Connor Bessette walked, Caleb Simoneau singled and Asikainen walked to load the bases.
Coutu then drew a bases-loaded walk and Ericson followed with a two-run double. That brought Ellsworth to the plate who clocked a three-run homer to left to bring the Centaurs within one.
An error kept the comeback hopes alive for Woodstock Academy, but a ground out followed to end that hope.
The Centaurs began the week in fine fashion with a 9-3 win over Ellis Tech in Danielson.
Asikainen drove in three runs and Simoneau had a pair of hits.

Boys’ Golf
It was a long time in coming but it was not easy when the season finally arrived for the boys’ golf team this past week.
The Centaurs opened with the buzz saw known as Norwich Free Academy and followed that up with a trip to the Great Neck Country Club to play Waterford which has won four of its first five matches.
NFA (4-0, 2-0 ECC Div. I) came to the Quinnatisset Country Club having already scored a 159 in its first match of the season.
The Wildcats were capable of even better and proved that to the Centaurs with a 146 total.
Four NFA players, Evan Howard, Marcelo Raposo, Brayden Connell and Cooper Kilpatrick all clearly liked their surroundings in Thompson as all shot even par 36.
What made that even more difficult for the Centaurs was that those were the second and fourth through sixth players for the Wildcats.
Tyler Hollis, the No. 1 for NFA, had a pretty good round too with a 38 and Marcus Lisee chipped in with a 39.
The Centaurs finished with a respectable 167 with junior Brady Hebert leading the way with a 39. Senior Blake Hudock shot a 42 and Aidan O’Connor, Alec Nunes and Max Kopp all recorded a 43.
The wind didn’t play favorites but on a course foreign to the Centaurs, didn’t make things any easier.
At times gusting to 30 MPH, Woodstock saw its numbers regress a bit as it lost to the host Lancers 5 ½ - 1 ½ .
The Lancers finished with a 161-stroke total while the Centaurs amassed 178 strokes.
O’Connor was tops with a 43 while both Hebert and Kopp shot 44’s.
Lucas Vincenti led Waterford with a 38 and Wyatt Haynes posted a 39.
The Centaurs get a bit busy now with four matches in four days beginning on Monday at home against Stonington.

Girls’ and Boys’ Track
The boys’ and girls’ track teams had a long night in Danbury at the O’Grady Relays. Some 50 schools took part with the last event ending just shortly before midnight.
The girls’ team placed third just behind New Canaan and Fairfield Ludlowe in the team standings.
Several school records were set including the 4x200m relay team of Emma Weitknecht, Elise Coyle, Ella Lidonde and Teagan Maloney who finished in 1 minute, 49.55 seconds and broke their own school mark by six seconds.  
Maloney, Bella Amlaw, Weitknecht and Emme Langevin ran the 1600m sprint medley in 4:30 to replace the previous school record set in 2014 and the distance medley relay team of Nova Almquist, Olivia Tracy, Claire Bruneaux and Coyle also set a school record.
On the field side, the javelin throwers finished second as a team with Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain getting an individual first-place finish. The discus team placed second with Lily Morgis finishing first individually and the shotput team finished second overall with Avery Plouffe leading the way.
The boys’ team finished 11th overall in the competition and also set some school standards. Thatcher Paterson took home a second place in the triple jump and the steeplechase relay team of Lucas Hecker, Ronan Curran and Harrison Durand finished third in a school record time of 6:36.29. The 4x200m relay team also set a school record and the discus relay team of Eli Manning, David Sumner and Cayden Menor finished in third place.

Girls’ Lacrosse
Senior Kaylee Saucier scored her 100th career point as the Centaurs girls’ lacrosse team finished in a 6-6 tie with Killingly on the road early in the week.
“We called a time out as soon as it happened in the first quarter. The team Moms had ordered T-Shirts that had Saucier 100 on them and we collected the game ball and signed it,” said Woodstock Academy coach Heather Miller.
Saucier had to wait all of spring break for the moment to occur as she had raised her total to 99 in a game versus Fitch on April 9.
Saucier finished with two goals and had two assists in the overtime tie.
Clara Dowdle had a pair of goals while Vivian Bibeau and Allison McCusker also tallied. It was the first career goal for McCusker.
Grace Lescault added an assist for Woodstock Academy.
“I thought that we played well having just come off spring break. We had three optional practices over the break so I thought we did OK,” Miller said.
The Centaurs were still looking for their first win of the season at the end of the week.
They suffered a 15-5 loss at Stonington on Thursday.
Bibeau, who has been moved to midfield, got a pair of goals along with Dowdle who added an assist.
Saucier, who leads the team with 19 goals and seven assists, added the other tally.
Woodstock (0-4-1, 0-3 ECC Div. II) hung in there early on Saturday against ECC Div. II leader Montville.
Unfortunately, the Wolves picked up the pace after that and posted an 18-7 win.
The Centaurs trailed only 5-3 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a pair of Saucier goals and the first of the season for Baylee Rosinski.
But Montville pulled away despite a five-goal, one assist effort from Saucier.

Boys’ Tennis
The boys’ tennis team returned from spring break to score a 5-2 victory over Killingly at the Pomfret School courts early last week.
Rodrigo Diez, Ryan Chabot, Dan Jameson and Heath White swept the singles matches.
Jack Xia and Steven Shen recorded a straight set win at second doubles.
Woodstock leads Div. II of the ECC with a 2-0 record.
The Centaurs did fall in a non-divisional match later in the week to Waterford, 6-1.
The loss dropped Woodstock’s overall record to 3-2.
Diez posted the only win for the Centaurs but it was a pitched battle with Lancers’ No. 1 player, Christos Matsas.
Diez won the first set handily 6-1, but had to go to a tiebreaker to win the second of the best of three sets, 7-6.

Softball
It was not an easy week for the Woodstock offense.
The softball team produced three hits in each of its three games and the lack of baserunners generally means a lack of runs.
The Centaurs did score twice but lost to East Lyme, 15-2, in their first game of the week but were shutout by the same score, 7-0, in both of their games against Ledyard and Bacon Academy to conclude the week.
The Centaurs did fall behind East Lyme 3-0 in the first inning but rallied in the bottom of the inning at the Commons Field.
Senior Maci Corradi had a lead off single and, one out later, fellow senior Ellary Sampson stroked her fourth homer of the season on a fly ball to deep left field.
Sampson’s bat has been the highlight for the Centaurs (1-9, 0-3 ECC Div. II) as she has 15 hits in her 25 at-bats for a .600 batting average with eight RBIs to go with her four homers.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, the Vikings followed with four runs in the second inning and six in the third to pull away.
Natalie Knowlton had a triple and a homer and drove in five runs for East Lyme.
The opposition’s pitching held the Centaurs in check on both Thursday and Friday.
Alexia Lemmon allowed only three hits and struck out 13 in the pitching circle to lead the Colonels to the win.
Sampson had two of the Centaurs three hits.
Campbell Favreau had two hits on Friday for Woodstock Academy against the Bobcats but Riley Stolzman held the Woodstock bats at bay and struck out 14.
Stolzman also delivered three hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for Bacon Academy.
 
  Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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Coach Jason Tata, left, gives a congratulatory hug to senior attack Corey Lafond after Lafond overcame illness to contribute 11 second-half assists and help the Centaurs to an 18-10 boys’ lacrosse victory.

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Kieran Shepherd (1) tries to get the ball out of the Centaurs defensive end.

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Phillip Feaney Aleman (11, middle) tries to navigate his way through the Newington defense.

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Owen Hamilton (8) tries to sneak up on a Newington offensive player in their boys’ lacrosse match.

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Aidan O’Connor tees off on the eighth hole at the Great Neck Country Club on Thursday. 

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Brady Hebert putts on the fourth hole while junior teammate Max Kopp looks on. 

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Max Kopp chips onto the fourth green during a match against the Waterford Lancers.
Photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.

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Kaylee Saucier, who scored her 100th career point last week, and Fitch senior Margaret Gulini battle for control of the draw.  Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media.