It wasn’t against the usual volleyball competition.
“It was kind of nice to not have a Guilford or a Griswold to play in a championship,” Woodstock Academy senior Marissa Mayhew said.
Instead, the third-seeded Centaurs matched up against No. 4 Windham Nov. 12 for the ECC tournament experience Northern Division Bracket I title and came away with a 3-0 win over the Whippets.
It wasn’t exactly the way it was planned out.
The Centaurs were originally scheduled to play second-seeded Plainfield in a semifinal Nov. 10, and, if they had won, would have had to travel to Griswold to likely face the top-seeded Griswold Wolverines for the title.
The Covid-19 virus, as it has all season, had other plans.
Griswold had to opt out after the Jewett City school was forced to go back to virtual learning.
Then Nov. 9 Plainfield shut its doors.
It left just Woodstock Academy and Windham to play in the title match.
“I’m glad that we never went out (due to the pandemic). We were one of the few schools that never had to stop playing sports because we didn’t go in in the first place,” said Woodstock Academy coach Adam Bottone. “This was a great experience for the girls to be able to play and for me to be able to coach them in a non-conventional season for sure. But when you look at the spring and spring sports getting taken away from those athletes, especially the seniors, I was glad that we were able to make this work for this group for the fall.”
Woodstock Academy just returned to hybrid learning Nov. 9 with students coming to school one day per week.
Bottone was concerned about one aspect of the Centaurs game going into the final; it’s ability to serve/receive.
It was an inconsistent part of the package for Woodstock Academy and it looked like that would be the case again Nov. 12.
Windham came out of the blocks by scoring the first five points of the first set.
The Centaurs had beaten Windham, 3-0, in a previous meeting and Bottone was a bit concerned about the mindset.
“We, sometimes, are not always there in the right head space and we were not in the right head space early on. We weren’t there. We weren’t ready. We struggled with receive,” Bottone said.
Fortunately for Woodstock Academy, so did the Whippets.
The Centaurs came back and made it 8-6 and that’s when Mayhew stepped behind the service line.
The senior Libero put eight straight service points together, including a pair of aces, to put the Centaurs up, 14-8.
“There were a lot of service runs for all of our girls but I was happy that I could keep it up (Thursday), I had a service error, but I had a good run before it so I was happy,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew finished with 18 service points including six aces.
In total, the Centaurs finished with 22 service aces, Sierra Bedard added six and Kileigh Gagnon five.
“We’ve definitely struggled with our service in the past. In one game, we gave up 18 service points (due to service errors) which is pretty huge. Just getting all of our serves in was pretty big,” Bedard said.
The Centaurs won the first set, 25-15, and then took the next two, 25-13 and 25-9 to capture the title.
“It’s really nice (to end with a championship) and all the pretty successful seasons, I’m just glad we had another one of those. Even though our season wasn’t that great, it was a good end to it,” Bedard said.
It was the last time that Mayhew (19 digs) and Bedard (3 kills) will play volleyball in a Centaur uniform although they have had quite the experience in their four years.
They had been a part of two teams that went to the Class L state championship match and, last year, a state semifinal.
“Volleyball is my favorite sport and I enjoyed coming here every day,” Bedard said.
While her playing career may have come to a close at the high school level, Mayhew said she hopes to still be involved in the future.
She may go to Maine to go to an advanced firefighter’s collegiate level course, but if that doesn’t happen, may stay close to home and go to Quinebaug Valley Community College.
That could lead her back to the high school game in a different capacity.
“Before the (championship) game, I was talking to (Woodstock Academy assistant) coach (Alyssa) Geissler about what it takes to be an assistant coach. I never want to give up this sport. It has meant so much to me over the last eight years I’ve been playing. This team and having the coaching and community here has really been a blessing,” Mayhew said.
Mayhew will be one of seven seniors leaving the program which finished 8-3 this season.
“That’s a big number,” Bottone said of his seniors leaving. “I was talking to Leila MacKinnon about it and I think we will only have five or six girls of the 14 I usually keep with varsity experience. We’re going to be very young, very inexperienced. It will be a rebuilding year but that will be exciting because I haven’t had that in a long time.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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It was not a state title or even a true league title game.
But last Friday’s Woodstock Academy – Killingly girls’ soccer match had all the emotion of a championship match.
Top-seeded Woodstock Academy and No. 2 Killingly waged a pitched battle with Killingly coming out on top, 2-1.
Coming in, the two teams were, literally, dead even. Killingly won the first meeting between the two, 3-2, with a goal in the first minute of the second overtime.
The Centaurs captured the second meeting, also played at Killingly, by the same score on a goal in the final minute of regulation. The third meeting ended in a 2-2 draw.
It meant a break here or there would decide the outcome of the rubber match.
Woodstock Academy got on the board first when Arianna Di Domizio found Lucy McDermott in the middle with a nice through ball and McDermott scored her fourth goal of the season just 9 minutes, 46 seconds into the match.
The game was played in a steady rain and a prime opportunity slipped out of the Centaurs grasp when a Peyton Saracina shot slid just outside the far post. Killingly (9-1-1) tied the match before the half when freshman Laura Farquhar got past the Woodstock Academy defense and scored.
Killingly’s game-winner came 10 ½ minutes into the second half.
It started on the right side of the field when Abbie Burgess, who is headed to the University of New Hampshire to play collegiate soccer, back flipped a no-look pass to Casey Beauregard. The sophomore looked up and found Kaleigh Hopkins making a run on the left side and lofted a pass to her. Hopkins rocketed a shot into the far upper corner from a difficult angle.
The best chance for Woodstock Academy in the second half came when Gillian Price ran on to a ball at the 18, but she was a bit off balance and her shot went harmlessly off to the right.
The Centaurs had advanced to the championship match with a 12-1 win over Windham Tech in the semifinal Nov. 11.
Saracina, who finished with 17 goals this season, got the Centaurs off to a quick start with three goals in the first 12 minutes. Snelling said it was the fastest hat trick he had seen in his time on the Centaurs sideline.
Sophomore Grace Gelhaus had a career first – five goals in a game.
Gelhaus finished the season with 16 goals.
The Centaurs posted an 8-2-1 record for the season.
Field Hockey
Woodstock Academy coach Lauren Gagnon was admittedly concerned when she first saw that the ECC tournament experience would mean the field hockey season would stretch into mid-November.
Temperatures nearing 80 degrees greeted the third-seeded Centaurs and No. 6 NFA in their ECC tournament experience first round game.
Woodstock Academy basked in the sunshine, scored three times in the first quarter, and rolled to a 5-1 win over NFA.
The Centaurs season came to a close Nov. 10.
Woodstock Academy traveled to E. Lyme where it fell to the second-seeded Vikings, 1-0, in a semifinal contest.
The Centaurs finished the season with a 6-4 record.
The Centaurs were also happy to play very well in the final appearance on the turf for the 12 seniors on the field hockey team.
Dutson was a key early. She put the Centaurs on the board just 2 minutes, 6 seconds into the game off an assist from fellow senior Alex Vaida.
Just 2:22 later, it was a 2-0 lead for the Centaurs when a rebound off NFA keeper Norah Gallagher found Rachel Canedy’s stick and she poked it back into the cage for her fifth goal of the season.
Dutson finished off the first quarter scoring when she rifled one past Gallagher from long range for her fourth tally of the season.
The Wildcats (0-5) did put one of their own on the board in the second quarter when Dakota Burns got loose from the Centaurs defense and scored a breakaway goal.
But Woodstock Academy responded late in the third quarter when Meg Preston scored her first goal of the season with 2:16 left.
Another Centaur senior, Maddie Silbermann, also scored her first goal of the season with just under three minutes to play to account for the final.
“Even most college teams don’t have anything like this (a postseason tournament) and we’re really fortunate to have this. These extra tournament games were fantastic,” Dutson said.
Prep Basketball
For a first time this season, the Woodstock Academy prep basketball teams got to play someone other than themselves.
St. Thomas More, from Oakdale, paid a visit to Woodstock Academy for a first time Nov. 13.
The Chancellors, guided by legendary coach Jere Quinn, proved to be up to the task as their postgraduate team downed the Centaurs Gold squad, 81-74.
Woodstock Academy was able to build a double-digit lead in the first half.
A pair of baskets by Tairi Kentner (11 points) and another by Dashon Gittens made it 32-21 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the half.
The two teams exchanged baskets with a Justin Cross basket for the Centaurs with 3:58 left in the half putting Woodstock Academy ahead, 34-23.
It was the Centaurs last basket for the next 5 ½ minutes stretching into the second half.
In the interim, St. Thomas More scored 20 unanswered points to take as 43-34 lead just 1:15 into the second half.
Woodstock Academy fought back and got to within one, 67-66, with 4:53 left in the game thanks to a pair of free throws by Julien Soumaoro.
Soumaoro (10 points) followed with a 3-pointer to put the Centaurs up, 69-67.
But a pair of free throws by Mosaku Oluwadamilola (who finished with a game-high 17 points) and a 3-pointer by Corey Perkins put the Chancellors back up by three.
Kentner tied the game with a traditional 3-point play only to see St. Thomas More score six of the next eight points.
Three free throws in the final 25 seconds sealed it for the Chancellors.
Pipe Ajayi led the Centaurs (0-1) with 12 points.
The Centaurs Blue prep basketball team posted a 66-64 win over the St. Thomas More varsity team.
Ethan Edwards scored the game-winning basket for the Centaurs (1-0) and finished with 14 points.
Jayden Beloti led Woodstock Academy with 15 points while Kyle Alcy added 14 in the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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PUTNAM — At 4 p.m. Dec. 5 Santa will arrive in Rotary Park to greet youngsters and turn on the lights for the Holiday Season
The town created this new event to replace the Friday after Thanksgiving Santa arrival event.
The event begins with a Holiday Vendor Market in Rotary Park from noon to 4:30 p.m. Come explore the Town of Putnam for all your Holiday gift ideas. Holiday music will resonate from 2 to 4 p.m. from the Rotary Park Bandstand. At 4 p.m.
Santa will arrive at Rotary Park with an escort from the Putnam Fire Department.
Santa will POP UP and turn on the Big Ornament, the trees in Rotary Park, and the newest item — the bright lighted SANTA OVER THE FALLS.
Children will be allowed to wave to and greet Santa from a safe distance. There will be a box for kids to drop off their Christmas lists. Masks and hand sanitizers required and will be at Vendor booths. COVID-19 compliant.
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PUTNAM — Richard “Dick” A. Bernier, 90, of Richmond Rd., died Nov. 11, 2020, at home. For 62 years, he was the husband of Claire (Biron) Bernier. Born in 1930 in Danielson, Dick was the son of the late Harry and Cordelia (Chabot) Bernier.
He was the last surviving and youngest of their five children.
A proud veteran of the Korean war, Dick aptly died quietly in his sleep on Veterans Day. He served in the U.S. Navy (1950-54), aboard the USS Yosemite.
After his military service, Dick returned to Danielson and began his career as an apprentice at Pratt & Whitney in Hartford. He quickly discovered an aptitude for welding, and through the support of his mentor, Don Bowman, Dick advanced and eventually became a premier class TIG welder.
With those skills, he worked on aircraft at Kaman Aerospace Corporation in Moosup, and some of the earliest prototypes of fuel cells at United Technologies Corporation in S. Windsor, and eventually retired from Whitcraft Corporation in Eastford.
Dick was an avid gardener, bowler and could cut a rug like the best of them, especially if it was a polka. He was a champion in card-playing, and particularly loved both cribbage and pitch.
A communicant of St. Mary of the Visitation Church, Dick was heavily invested in the early education of his two sons at St. Mary’s School, having served as a parent leader and fund-raiser, and one of the founding leaders of the Circle of Fun.
In addition to his wife, Dick leaves his sons, David R. Bernier (Rebecca) of Lansing, Mich., and Kevin D. Bernier and his spouse David N. Henriques of Woodstock; eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews.
The Mass of Christian Burial is at 11 a.m. Nov. 24 in St. Mary of the Visitation Church.
Donations: The Richard A. Bernier Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Putnam Bank, 40 Main St., Putnam, CT 06260. Proceeds will benefit local students who choose to pursue a career in Richard’s chosen field of welding. Gilman Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Church St., Putnam.
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