Roundup
Centaurs break streak with win over Ridgefield
It had been a pretty tough week for the Woodstock Academy girls’ hockey co-op team.
Fortunately, it ended on a good note. The Centaurs broke a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over Ridgefield.
It was not only the losses that were piling up for the Centaurs, who are now 6-9 overall, but also the frustration.
Woodstock, which played four games in six days, saw the East Catholic co-op score twice in the final six minutes to post a win early last week; Amity Regional followed with a goal with 13 seconds left in regulation for a win and Avon/Southington snuck past the Centaurs with a goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.
The Centaurs went up 1-0 in the first period on a goal by senior captain Juliette Hammer with help from Zi Qing Biondo.
The hosts did come back to tie before the end of the first period but the second belonged to the Centaurs.
Biondo, Sophia Gouveia and Sophia Sherman all scored in the period for the Centaurs with Biondo, Gouveia and Sophia Bonner all garnering assists.
Woodstock fell behind Avon/Southington, 2-0. The Centaurs rallied to tie as Biondo scored off a Gouveia assist with 1:23 left in the second period and Ireland Wilford got the equalizer off assists from Maci Corradi and Sophia Bonner just 1:30 into the third.
But it would go down as a heartbreaker as the opponent scored with 27 seconds left in regulation to avoid the overtime and give the hosts the victory.
That was heartbreaker No. 2, the first occurred just days before on the Centaurs home ice.
Whoever scored last was going to pull out the win last Wednesday and that honor belonged to Amity Regional who put in the game winner in the last 13 seconds for a 5-4 win over the Centaurs.
Gouveia had a big night for Woodstock as she recorded a hat trick for the Centaurs with junior Ellary Sampson getting the other tally and an assist. Hammer had two assists for the Centaurs with Bonner and Mia Auger each adding one.
A seemingly benign penalty that can cause a team a big headache such was the case in the Centaurs matinee game last Monday.
Early in the third period of the game with the East Catholic-Glastonbury-South Windsor co-op, (Storm), the Centaurs were whistled for too many players on the ice.
At the time, the Centaurs trailed 2-1. Four seconds later, they were down by two and that two-goal differential would be the final result as the two teams swapped goals in the final 6 ½ minutes and the Storm held on for the 4-2 win.
“We just took a couple of silly penalties and it backfired on us,” said coach Eric Roy. “The penalty kill was not ready for it and that was the difference because we fought.”
The Storm was dominant in the first period, getting 10 shots on goal and converting on two of them.
The Centaurs failed to get a shot off in the first period.
“That was a tough one to sit there and watch but we knew going into this one that it would be a challenge; we didn’t know it was going to be this much of a challenge,” Roy said. “We’re normally a pressure team but we tried to lessen that to start, let them cough up the puck up to us but they didn’t.”
So it was back to the pressure. It worked in the second period as the Centaurs outshot the Storm, 13-5.
One of those found the back of the net as Gouveia scored for an 11th time this season off an assist from Hammer.
The only disappointment in the period came when the Centaurs could not take advantage of a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity.
The Storm was able to give itself a bit of breathing room when the Centaurs were caught with too many players on the ice during a line change just 3:42 into the third period.
It took all of four seconds for the storm to score, resulting in a two-goal advantage.
Woodstock did not give up. Wilford scored off a Corradi assist to cut the lead to one again, 3-2, with 6:38 to play.
But Woodstock incurred another penalty with 2:32 left and the Storm scored on a power-play goal to give the Storm the win.
“That’s a top three, top four team in the state and we’re two power plays away from that being a tie game. I have no complaints,” said Roy.
Prep Soccer
Centaurs win division in Chester, PA.
The Prep Soccer U-19 tournament team won its group at the Best of the East tournament in Chester, Penn., over the weekend.
The Centaurs downed the Virginia Development Academy, 3-0, Sunday to also finish as the joint top point earner of the 52 U-19 teams participating with 19 of a possible 20 points.
Enoch Joseph, Nicolae Velacico and Zander Tidwell all scored for the Centaurs while Velacico had two assists and Jasper Cox added one.
Kevin Christensen delivered the shutout in net.
The U-19 team opened the tournament on Saturday with a 3-1 victory over the Pipeline Soccer Club, 3-1.
The Centaurs were down 1-0 at the half but scored three times in the second stanza with Xahvi DeRoza getting two of those goals and assisting on the third.
Velacico had the other tally and Daion Swan-DaSilva added an assist.
The U-17 prep soccer team finished in a 2-2 draw Saturday with Bethesda Soccer Club also at the Best of the East tournament.
The Centaurs broke out to a 2-0 lead as Richard Sarpong scored off an assist from Gio Farina Santana. Kevin Thomson followed with another goal from 30 yards out but Bethesda rallied for the tie.
The Centaurs U-17 finished off the weekend on the wrong side of a 2-0 score to Penn Fusion on Sunday.
Girls’ Basketball
Up-and-down. Such is the roller coaster ride of the midseason for many a high school basketball team. The girls’ basketball team started off the season with seven straight wins.
The going has been a bit tougher over the past two weeks. The Centaurs slipped to 9-4 overall and 2-3 in Div. I of the ECC with a pair of divisional losses.
“I guess it fits the bill for high school athletics, the analogy of the roller coaster is very true. That’s kind of how it is,” said coach Will Fleeton.
For the Centaurs, a lot of the concern centers on putting the ball in the basket.
Woodstock’s offense is often predicated by its defensive ability to pressure the ball, create turnovers and, thus, create offense.
“You can only defend so much,” Fleeton said. “We do hang our hats on the (defensive) end of the floor but we do want to do something (offensively) as well. There are some things we want to do that we aren’t able to do if we can’t make a few shots. You have to make a few to extend the defense and it helps provide offense for us at times.”
There were not enough of those times against East Lyme and Norwich Free Academy.
The Centaurs and Vikings locked up in a duel with East Lyme going home with a 41-39 win.
The game was tight throughout with the Vikings up by one, 11-10, at the end of the first quarter. The game was tied at 21 at the half and East Lyme regained its one-point lead at the end of the third, 31-30.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the fourth quarter. Woodstock made just two of its 12 shots.
Vivian Bibeau hit a 3-pointer just 11 seconds into the fourth and Allison Camara, who led the team with 13 points, hit a basket with 0.3 seconds left in regulation.
The Vikings were only slightly better, putting down only three of eight shots.
The Centaurs did own a three-point lead, 36-33, with three minutes to play after a pair of free throws by Sophia Sarkis (7 points).
Brouwer Kenney went inside for two for the Vikings to cut it to one, Camara then hit a free throw for Woodstock with 2:14 left.
But just 23 seconds later, Kenney stepped outside and hit just her second basket of the day, a 3-pointer, to put the Vikings up by a point.
Kate Erickson, who finished with 10 points, hit one of two from the line and Taylor Kachinski made two more from the charity stripe to give the Vikings (9-4, 1-4) the four-point lead which Camara halved but the Centaurs ran out of time.
Kaylee Saucier added eight points in the loss for the Centaurs.
Woodstock also suffered a 46-28 loss to NFA Thursday.
The Centaurs started off slow against the Wildcats, scoring only five first quarter points.
Unfortunately, that was more the rule than the exception as the Wildcats were able to bottle up Woodstock’s leading scorers, Saucier and Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain.
The two juniors were limited to a combined five points in the game and the Centaurs posted only six points in the second quarter, 10 in the third and seven in the fourth.
Sophomore Elise Coyle came off the bench and led the Centaurs with nine points.
The Centaurs also found themselves in a hole early versus E.O. Smith. Fortunately, they were able to climb out of this one on Tuesday. Woodstock put together a great rally to post a 52-36 win over the Panthers in a non-league game.
The Centaurs fell behind early, 18-4, but scored the next 19 points to take a five-point halftime lead. Woodstock built on that and was up by 16 by the end of the third quarter.
D’Alleva-Bochain paced the team with 13 points, Bibeau added 12 and Saucier 11.
Boys’ Basketball
The offense started to come around a bit for Woodstock at Stonington on Friday.
Unfortunately, the defense was the problem in the first half.
The Centaurs allowed host Stonington to put down eight 3-pointers in the first half alone as the Bears scored 51 points.
The defense stiffened in the second half but the damage was done as the Bears went on to post a 68-56 win.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 3-8 just over the halfway point of the season.
Senior Brady Ericson helped the Centaurs forge a bit of a second-half comeback as he finished with 18 for Woodstock, 12 of those came in the second half while Will Bushey added 10. Matt Hernandez and Lucas Quercia each contributed nine points.
The weather was cold outside earlier in the week and the same could be said about the offense for the team inside. The Centaurs could not get on track offensively, getting stuck in the 30s in losses to Cheney Tech and Rockville.
“We missed a lot of chippies; we turned over the ball, things that we really can’t coach at the moment. These guys have to stay mentally dialed in and be able to handle the pressure. If we get past that phase, we will be great,” said coach Donte Adams after a 54-36 loss to Cheney Tech Thursday.
The Centaurs were unable to find Ericson in the first quarter.
He took just one shot while Cheney Tech big Dazhaun Copeland was lighting up the basket for 10 points to help the Chargers take a 15-9 lead into the second quarter.
Cheney Tech found a different go-to player in each quarter.
Ericson never would find the shooting touch as he finished with just five points for the Centaurs. Hernandez paced the team with nine points, seven coming in the first half. Quercia added eight, six came in the second half.
The Centaurs also committed 20-plus turnovers.
“They rushed us and we weren’t able to handle it. We had a lot of missed passes. The guys just were not confident with the ball (Thursday) and it showed,” Adams said.
It was not a productive Martin Luther King Day for Centaurs either as, just like Thursday, it could not get untracked offensively.
The Centaurs scored 11 points each in the bookend first and fourth quarters but only combined for that number in the middle two and lost to host Rockville, 43-33, in a non-league contest.
The loss ended a three-game win streak for Woodstock.
Cam Nason hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter and Will Bushey had another but those were the only buckets for the Centaurs who did not put in a field goal in the second quarter. Ericson was the only player in double figures with 10 points.
Wrestling
It kind of snuck up on everyone. In the month of January, a Senior Night celebration was to be had.
The wrestling team finishes up its season with meets at Windham, Norwich Free Academy and East Lyme so its home match with Ledyard last Wednesday was the finale.
“It was earlier in the season than I expected,” said coach Cahan Quinn. “I took a look at the schedule about a month ago and noted but I had to get all my ducks in a row for it so we could honor our seniors properly.”
Fortunately, Woodstock didn’t have a huge senior class.
That was good not only to make the night easier but also helps Quinn in the knowledge that most of his athletes will be returning.
Two of the wrestlers were two-year performers with Ayden Angel and Gunnar Basak joining the team when it was re-instituted a year ago.
“Ayden is just so unconventional with his wrestling — it’s just fun to watch. He operates mainly on throws and his judo background,” Quinn said. “Gunnar is in a tough weight class, 175-pounds is not easy in the (ECC). He has a tough road in front of him but, hopefully, he keeps figuring things out and improving as he has been.”
The Centaurs also had two seniors out for the program for a first time in Will Papineau and Cam Robida.
“They have both picked up the sport as quickly as they can. Will is wrestling heavyweight at 220 pounds and it’s not an easy task. I give him a lot of credit for the courage just to do that. Cam has been doing pretty well at 165, another tough weight class as we saw last year with Lucas Theriaque, an experienced wrestler competing there. Both of my first-year guys have done a great job maintaining their composure and working hard,” Quinn said.
Unfortunately, none of them could record a Senior Night win. Ledyard was dominant and posted the 77-6 victory.
Junior Owen Hamilton was the only Centaur to put points on the board with a first-round pin. The Colonels had 10 first-round pins.
The Centaurs finish off with matches at Windham and Norwich Free Academy and a multi-dual meet at East Lyme prior to the ECC championship.
“We have a couple of tough weeks leading up to the ECC championship but I think that will help us be prepared for that tournament and the Class M the following week,” Quinn said.
Gymnastics
Senior Olivia Aleman suffered an early fall and, as a precaution, was withdrawn from the meet against Norwich Free Academy Wednesday. That did not yield good results for the Centaurs.
Without Aleman’s normally steady performance, the Centaurs lost to the host Wildcats 139.2 – 134.45.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 4-3 overall and in the ECC.
Freshman Anyah Oatley paced Woodstock with a 34.1 All-Around total including a 9.1 performance on bars and a 9.0 on the floor.
Sophomore Rhea Desota also scored a 9.0 on floor and finished with a 33.85 all-around total.
Prep Select Basketball
The Prep Select basketball team picked up its fifth win of the season last week. The Centaurs (5-14) downed Springfield Commonwealth, 69-50, behind a pair of 10-point efforts from Bram Von Rooij and Xawier Matwiej.
It made for a highlight for the team which had not fared well in its two previous games last week.
Despite Matwiej putting down 14 points and Filippo De Giorgi with 11, the Centaurs did fall to Putnam Science Academy, 108-60.
Woodstock was also handed a 101-44 loss by Our Savior Lutheran. De Giorgi finished with 13 points and Casper te Winkel had six in that contest.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions: page 2
From left: Freya Robbie was recognized as a Class L All-State girls’ soccer player by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association. Photo by Sean Saucier. Members of wrestling team were joined by their parents on Senior Night. Photo by Cahan Quinn. Freshman guard Drake Abdullovski looks to pass. Photo by Marc Allard.
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