It’s been a long preseason for the Woodstock Academy girls’ golf team.
It will be the team that will be the last to make its debut this spring season as the Centaurs don’t play until Wednesday when they travel to the Old Lyme Country Club to play E. Lyme.
But that is fine with veteran coach Earl Semmelrock who has taken advantage of the extra time and nice weather to fine tune what could be a pretty good Centaurs team.
The Centaurs are fortunate this year --- they spend a couple of weeks hitting balls on the Woodstock Common or behind the gym on South Campus. They got two solid weeks of practice with their varsity course (Quinnatisset) open.
The Centaurs have four seniors, Kaily LaChapelle, Ciara MacKinnon, Alex Vaida and Maria Santucci to rely upon this season.
LaChapelle said she and her classmates didn’t let the spring, summer and fall of 2020 go to waste. They did get out on the courses together and even chipped in their backyards to hone their skills.
The four seniors are a key reason why Semmelrock returned for his 15th season at the helm.
LaChapelle finished with a 13-2 record and a 51.2 stroke average in 2019, second on the team to Linda St. Laurent (49.2) who was a senior.
Santucci, Vaida and MacKinnon all posted winning records as well in 2019 and had stroke averages in the mid-50s.
They may also get some help from junior transfer Mia Dang from Massachusetts.
“She played on the boys’ team at St. Peter-Marian in Worcester and has a lot of experience playing competitive golf so we’re excited to see what she can do on the course,” Semmelrock said.
Fellow juniors Jillian Marcotte and Sadie Susi and sophomore Maya Orbegozo will comprise the remainder of the varsity unit.
The schedule will be pretty repetitive with the Centaurs having only two out-of-conference matches with Suffield and four each against ECC opponents, E. Lyme, NFA and Bacon Academy.
“Each division has the top 15 qualifiers and ties so there is an opportunity for five more teams to make the state playoffs and our goal is going to be to get back there,” Semmelrock said. The Centaurs qualified for the girls’ state championship tournament for a first time ever in 2019.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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April (Snow) Showers
A snow shower in mid-April? Sure. This is New England. The magnolia was none the worse for wear after the snow melted off. Linda Lemmon photo.

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Proud Parents
Amy and Bill Morin stand with their son, Aidan Morin. The Putnam Science Academy player signed recently with Lasell University. Courtesy photo.



As a member of the Woodstock Academy varsity basketball team for four years, Aidan Morin developed into a Mr. Everything for the Centaurs. By the time he was a senior, he was one of the leading scorers, rebounders, defenders, a team captain, a BMOC.
“Then I came here to PSA, and I’m not the best player, I’m not a top scorer,” he said. “But for me, I know I could still contribute. I pride myself on the fact that even if I don’t score, I’m still going to be the hardest working player on the court. I want to get every rebound, I want to get every steal, every block. I just want to win and I want to do all I can to help my team win.”
In late February, toward the end of his postgraduate season with the Mustangs, Morin decided that he would attend Division III Lasell University just outside of Boston and play basketball there next year. He made it official Wednesday, signing his National Letter of Intent.
“The coach showed so much interest in me and treated me great,” said Morin, a 6-foot, 2-inch guard. “We had a lot of mutual interests and he would make time to talk to me and show that he cared, which meant a lot to me. Secondly, I haven’t been to Boston too often in my life but I am super excited to go up there and get to know the city and the area.
“And most importantly, the academics are fantastic. It’s a great school for what I plan on majoring in, either finance or accounting.”
The two sides began talking during Morin’s junior year of AAU playing with Connecticut Elite. There he started every game (as he did at Woodstock from his sophomore season on), and when he reached out via email to a handful of colleges to see what opportunities might be there for him, Lasell, which plays in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, was one of the first to show interest, and then maintain it throughout.
“There is so much excitement,” Morin said. “I can’t wait because I’m so glad that I came here and got prepared. I’m playing here at PSA with kids who are higher level – DIIs, DIs – and I’m ready to go to the DIII level and work and show what I’ve learned and been able to accomplish.”
Morin said his offensive game, particularly his shooting has grown immensely in his time at PSA, as has his confidence, something he stressed was of great importance. The numbers might not show it – he averaged right around four points per game playing for the Elite team – but his growth from start to finish was apparent.
“The beginning of the year, he was just a guy who was scrappy but not much of a threat to score,” said PSA coach Dana Valentine. “The end of the year, he was a guy who knew how to pick his spots and he became a more reliable shooter. He was a guy you could really trust at any point in the game. His value didn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet but his energy and toughness were contagious. He battled every day to help our team win. Aidan’s a guy I really enjoyed coaching.”

Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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