Roundup
3 'W's' in row
for Centaurs
boys’ hoops
The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team made it three straight in the win column with a 68-49 win over Waterford Friday.
“The last three games have been great,” said coach Donte Adams. “We’ve been putting together some real good practices and I tell them that we have to make our practices harder than our games. The games are meant to be fun. It’s great to see that transition in the past three games. We’re going out there, making shots, and doing everything that has worked in practice.”
The Centaurs (3-5, 1-1 ECC Div. II) led by five points at the half but pulled away in the third quarter when it outscored the Lancers (4-6, 0-3)19-8 with senior center Brady Ericson getting seven of those points. He finished with 15.
“This is Brady’s second game in a row where he has stepped up big time in the second half and led us down the stretch. He made some big plays for us,” Adams said.
Freshman guard Drake Abdullovski (18 points) hit his third 3-pointer of the night and was 9-for-10 from the free throw line to carry the Centaurs in the fourth quarter.
“As a freshman, he’s playing big time for us,” Adams said. “He has ice in his veins and it was nice to see him step up and make those free throws. He was going to the basketball; he wasn’t shying away down the stretch. He was confident at the free throw line, knocking them down. He was mad that he missed the one but I will take 9-of-10 every day.”
Lucas Quercia added 10 points in the win.
The Lancers were led by Spencer Parker with 20 points while Gabe Lombardi tossed in 13.
Even before Friday’s strong performance, Adams had been happy with the play of Ericson but knew there was more there.
The 6-foot, 6-inch center came into the Centaurs’ game with Ledyard earlier in the week averaging 15 points and five rebounds a game.
But Adams was not satisfied. “I tell him all the time that ‘you are playing great but you are capable of more.’ That’s just me being picky and trying to push him. I know what is capable of,” Adams said.
Against Ledyard, Ericson proved Adams right.
The senior was dominant especially in the beginning of the fourth quarter, finished with 20 points, and led the Centaurs to a 55-50 win over the Colonels.
“We came out of the half and coach told me ‘I need you to be big, I need you to play big and I need you to be strong’. I told him, ‘I got you, coach.’ What we have been working on in practice, ripping through, being quicker (than Ledyard center Luke Shevlin), I knew I could move faster. I just stuck to what was working and helped us win,” Ericson said.
The Centaurs led by nine at the half but Ledyard was scrappy and Woodstock obliged a bit by sending the Colonels to the free throw line.
Ledyard made 8-of-12 from the charity stripe and trailed by only two, 35-33, going into the final quarter.
Ericson’s counterpart on Ledyard, 6-8 center Shevlin, had struggled offensively but he found the bottom of the basket just 23 seconds into the fourth quarter to tie the game.
Ericson wasn’t going to have it. He hit a jumper and followed that up with a pair of traditional three-point plays and then another basket.
It equaled 10 points in 1 minute, 18 seconds and gave the Centaurs a 47-37 advantage.
“Brady showed his presence,” Adams said. “I told him at halftime that he was right there; he was just missing chippy ones. I told him to take his time, focus on making the shot and if there was an and-one, there is an and-one but you have to play big for us. We played through him especially in that fourth quarter and he showed up.”
Ledyard did get as close as four late but Quercia (9 points) spied an opening when he took a pass and went to the hole, getting a necessary bucket with 2:08 left to put Woodstock back up by six and then made 2-of-4 free throws in the closing seconds to guarantee the win.
The Centaurs needed a strong inside game from Ericson. They had been struggling from the outside all season, coming into the game they had made less than a quarter of their 3-point attempts.
But Woodstock may have found a solution. Abdullovski made a trio of 3-pointers for the Centaurs to finish with nine points. Quercia also hit a trey in the win.
“Freshman sensation,” Adams said of Abdullovski. “Drake showed, as he did last game (at Plainfield) that he will come into the game and provide a spark. I have also told Lucas that if he is open, he has got to shoot it and knock it down. He put in some extra time and that extra effort has shown.”
Jack Leaf led the Colonels with 16 while Calvin Casavant added 11.
The three wins, hopefully according to Adams, will add some additional confidence.
“I’m shooting for the stars,” Adams said. “We’re just crossing things off as we go, taking things one game, day and practice at a time and we will be fine. Day-by-day, brick-by-brick, we’re going to keep building. We have (12) games left and my goal is to go (12)-0.”
Boys’ Hockey
It was the biggest two minutes of the season thus far for Woodstock.
The Centaurs were trailing the Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks co-op by two goals early in the third period when they caught fire and produced three goals in just under two minutes to take home a 6-4 win over the Wildcats.
The win ended a six-game losing streak for the Centaurs (2-6) who last won on Dec. 18 at home against the very same SGWL team.
“It’s tough because our record is not as good as it should be based off a couple of minutes here and there but it was good to finally get a win, end the losing streak and, hopefully, turn this season around,” said coach Mark Smolak.
Fortunately for the Centaurs, they came to play. Smolak said his top line “had a lot of energy” and after an early issue, really started to come together in the second period.
“They were laughing on the bench, not like we were going to lose, but in a very confident manner. It was like ‘We are not losing this game; we’re going to take it to them and come out on top.’ There was a no-quit attitude which was different than the past couple of weeks,” Smolak said.
Still, the Centaurs went into the third period trailing 4-2. That wasn’t the case for long. Seamus Coleman made it a one-goal game when he scored off assists from Jayden Fuller and Carlos Rodriguez Camacho with 11 minutes, 46 seconds left in regulation.
Just 10 seconds later, Fuller came up with his second goal of the game to tie the contest and 1:46 after that, Rodriguez Camacho tallied to put the Centaurs up by a goal.
Fuller completed his second hat trick of the season off an assist from Kellen Coleman with 3:42 to play for the insurance tally.
“We had a lot of glowing opportunities in the second period and we could feel the momentum kind of pushing our way. We had a feeling, based on past experience, if we got within one, we might get in the goalie’s head,” Smolak said. “On the Seamus goal, it was a rebound in front of the net, off to the side and he had a really long reach and was able to tap it by. Fuller was all over their goalie, breakaways and odd-man rushes and he protected the puck. Both of those goals came in the same shift which was pretty to see.”
Fuller also added a couple of assists while Coleman finished with two goals and two assists as he scored the first goal for the Centaurs with 13 seconds left in the first period.
It was a big tally as the Centaurs trailed 3-0 at the time.
Fuller then brought Woodstock within a goal when he had an unassisted tally early in the second period.
“We have been working on having him consistently engaged on the forecheck. He is one of the fastest skaters we have. We’ve also worked with him on protecting the puck better especially using his speed to go in and attack defensemen on breakaways and shorthanded opportunities. He just feels more confident when he is playing angry, and tends to take over games when that happens, we just need it to happen more consistently,” Smolak said.
Fuller leads the team with eight goals and five assists.
It was a different tactic for Woodstock earlier in the week.
It just didn’t turn out the way the boys’ hockey team had hoped.
After jumping out to early leads in the past few games, only to see their opponents’ rally to win, it was the opponents who led early on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, they also won but not without a comeback attempt by the Centaurs who lost to St. Joseph, 6-3.
The CIAC Division I Cadets took the lead with 5:10 left in the first period on a goal by Cole Breunig and made it 2-0 when Bruenig tallied again just 1:06 into the second.
But the Centaurs answered when Coleman was able to poke in an unassisted goal at the 7:33 mark of the second period. Rodriguez Camacho then tied it just 1:45 into the third off a pass from Landon Murdock.
St. Joseph rattled off four consecutive goals in just 2 minutes, 42 seconds to build the insurmountable lead.
One of those goals was by Breunig as he finished with the hat trick.
The Centaurs did poke a little hole in it when Fuller tallied off assists from Rodriguez Camacho and Vaughn Buzak, the first point of his varsity career, with just 1:38 left in regulation.
Girls’ Basketball
In just their ninth game of the season, the Centaurs wrapped up a Class MM state tournament berth with a 47-41 non-league win on the road over previously unbeaten Coventry early in the week.
Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain scored nine of her 11 points in the second half while Allison Camara had all nine of hers in the final 16 minutes for Woodstock.
Kaylee Saucier helped the Centaurs pull away in the fourth quarter when she scored eight of her team-high 14. Freshman Hailey Mayo led Coventry (8-1) with 17 points while Jianna Foran added 11.
The Centaurs did welcome a special guest to the Alumni Fieldhouse during the week.
UConn redshirt senior Aubrey Griffin, a 2023 Big East Honorable Mention All-Star selection, dropped by practice to provide some tips and inspiration.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, those tips didn’t help in a matchup on the road with Class LL school, Southington, on Saturday.
The Blue Knights broke out to a big early lead and never trailed, posting a 58-40 win over the Centaurs.
Saucier scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half while Vivian Bibeau added all seven of hers in the final 16 minutes.
The loss dropped Woodstock to 8-2 on the season.
Indoor Track
The boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams both took home three first-place finishes from the Bethel Invitational.
Senior Colton Sallum placed first in the 1600-meter in 4 minutes, 30 seconds while fellow senior Christian Menounos was best in the 1000m.
Menounos also joined Aidan Kane, Thatcher Paterson and Collin Teal for a first-place finish in the sprint medley.
Harrison Durrand was second in the 3200m and the quartet of Ronan Curran, Jackson Durrand, Lucas Hecker, and Sam Greene placed second in the 4x800m relay.
On the girls’ side, Finnley Syphers qualified for the Class M championship as she cleared 7-feet in the pole vault to finish first in the Bethel Invitational with teammate Kaitlyn Teal coming in third in the event.
Olivia Tracy (3:29) was first in the 1000m with Kira Greene two seconds back in third.
Emma Weitknecht recorded a personal best 9.05 seconds finish in the 55-meter hurdles to place first.
Tracy, Bella Amlaw, Teal and Teagan Maloney finished second in the sprint medley, Avery Plouffe was second in shotput and the 4x800m relay team of Avery Schaeffer, Tracy, Greene and Greysen Dery also brought home a second-place finish.
Girls’ Hockey
For the second time in the two meetings between the Woodstock Academy Co-Op and Greenwich girls’ hockey teams, the game had to be decided in overtime.
And for a second time, the Cardinals prevailed, 3-2.
The loss dropped Woodstock to 5-6.
Zi Qing Biondo scored both of the goals for the Centaurs in the third period including a shorthanded tally that tied the game with 1:03 left in regulation. Sophia Gouveia assisted on both of Biondo’s goals.
Junior Ellary Sampson assisted on two goals by Gouveia but Mercy had more firepower and the hosts held off the Centaurs, 5-3.
Gouveia scored on a power play early in the second period to cut a 2-0 Mercy lead in half.
The Tigers went up, 3-1, on a goal with five minutes left in the second period but the Centaurs cut it to one when Ireland Wilford scored her third goal of the year off an assist by Avery Cairns.
But with 28 seconds left in the period, Mercy tallied again and the Tigers (4-4) added another before Gouveia scored her team-best 10th goal with three minutes left in the third period.
Josie Hatch made 27 saves in goal for Woodstock.
Prep Soccer
The prep soccer team began its winter/spring schedule with a pair of matches against the Oakwood Soccer Club.
The Centaurs U-19 team posted a 5-0 shutout win over Oakwood with Zander Tidwell getting a pair of goals in the win.
Romeo Corino started the scoring for Woodstock on a penalty kick and then assisted on a Tommy Broderick tally. Jasper Cox finished off the scoring for the Centaurs,
Daion Swan DaSilva and Xahvi DeRoza added assists while Alvaro Medrano and Kevin Christensen combined for the shutout in goal.
The U-17 team had a tougher time of it but still prevailed over Oakwood, 2-1.
Ozzie Pearman had the game winner on a penalty kick with 20 minutes left in regulation. Nico Ochoa scored the first goal for Woodstock Academy with help from Derek Rodriguez and Giovanni Farina Santana in the first half.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Wrestling activity: The Woodstock Academy wrestling team took part in the Travis Manion “Ruck for a Cause” on Saturday, bringing backpacks full of canned goods to donate to the Daily Bread Food Pantry in Putnam. Photo by Cahan Quinn/Woodstock Academy.
Aubrey Griffin: UConn Huskies Women’s basketball senior Aubrey Griffin paid a visit to a Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball practice this past week to give the Centaurs some tips on the game and some encouragement as well. Photo by Collin Singleton/Woodstock Academy.
2025 Gouveia: Woodstock Academy senior Sophia Gouvia, celebrating a goal recently, had two goals in a loss to Mercy High School and two assists in an overtime loss to Greenwich last week. Woodstock Academy photo
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