PHS soccer
teams win/lose
By Shawn Bates
Putnam High School started week one of its soccer competitions last week.
The Putnam boys, looking to bounce back from a disappointing last year, faced The Tigers from Tourtellotte Oct. 1 in Putnam but came away with a 3-1 loss. The Tigers struck first to take the lead in the first half with two goals scored by Daniel Boutin and Michael Barbosa. With time ticking away Karson Bates found Aysaiah Chavez in the front of the net to get the goal passed senior goal keeper Brady Monahan to cut the lead to one goal. In the 2nd half Boutin would find the back of the net one more time for the Tigers to give them the 3-1 win over the Clippers Senior goalie Colby Livingston had 10 saves on 13 shots.
The Lady Clippers faced a well-coached and talented Tiger squad and lost 7-0. Tourtellotte scorers were: Hanna LeClaire, 3;  Peyton Richard, 2; Kaylee Tacson, 1; and Madyson Koziak 1 . Madyson also lead the team with assists at 2.

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Nicolas Louis-Jacques is from Miami. September and October morning temperatures that sit in the 50s in New England are not something he is accustomed to, nor particularly fond of.
“This cold is killing me,” he said before defeatedly shaking his head at the reminder that it gets a lot colder in these parts soon enough.
While the weather may not have been to his liking, everything else seems to be going well for Louis-Jacques, one of Putnam Science Academy’s 13 new prep basketball players.
The 6-foot, 5-inch guard has impressed in the first month or so of individual and team workouts, showing off the deep shooting range he was known for, and also earning the program’s first “Horse Collar” award of the season, given to the toughest all-around player in the gym each week.
“It’s been really good,” said Louis-Jacques, whose parents are from Haiti. “It gets really competitive, everybody is going at it. And everybody here can play at a high level so you’ve got bring it every day. It’s just going to get you better, quicker. Nothing bad could come out of this at all. It was a great opportunity that I had to take.
“That’s why I wanted to come here. I didn’t really have offers from (colleges) I felt like really fit me, so when I decided I was going to do a prep year, I wanted to go to a serious prep. Here, every single day, you’re going to compete. You’re going at it every single day with really good players, with great players. You have to bring you’re A-game every day. It’s time to perfect my game as much as I can, and PSA is the place for me to do that.”
It is paying off in the early going of the preseason. Despite the irregularities caused by Coivd-19 that are limiting workouts and the preventing college coaches from seeing him in-person, a number of schools such as George Mason, Holy Cross, UNC Charlotte, and Marist, have reached out to Louis-Jacques just since the Mustangs started working out.
Louis-Jacques, 18, is known for his shooting. Off the dribble, coming off screens, catch-and-shoot, off the triple-threat, you name it, he believes every shot is going in. It’s something that he says “comes easy” to him, but added there was a lot of work put into it.
“I had a really good trainer back home and he just taught me how to shoot,” Louis-Jacques said. “We started off close to the basket and just slowly worked our way out. It was every day. I was just getting up a lot of shots. It’s mechanics and confidence. I don’t even think about missing a shot.”
Said PSA associate head coach Josh Scraba: “I think in a non-COVID year, with all the open gyms we would normally have, I think he’d be getting high-major looks. He’s not just a shooter. He can create his own shot, he can get to the rim, he can finish in a number of ways. Wherever he ends up, that coaching staff is going to be really happy because they’re going to get a real good player.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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caption, page 8:

Senior Honor Walk
The Woodstock Academy field hockey seniors walk through an honor guard of their teammates prior to the opening game of the season against NFA. Photo by Marc Allard.

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There is a big question this fall sports season. Due to the pandemic, how many games will teams be able to play? The uncertainty that surrounds the season was on full display in the season opener for the Woodstock Academy girls’ field hockey team Oct. 1.
In the middle of the game, NFA coach Noel Houle learned that it was possibly the only one that the Wildcats field hockey team will play this season.
Due to a Covid-19 outbreak in town, NFA decided that it would return to an all-remote learning format as of last Friday.
Along with that, all athletic games and practices would be put on hold until, at least, Oct. 19.
It’s for that reason that Woodstock Academy coach Lauren Gagnon made a decision well before the season began.
With 12 seniors on her roster, Gagnon did not want to see the season end without a Senior Day.
So, instead, the season began with one.
The Centaurs celebrated Senior Day in style with a 4-0 win over the Wildcats.
“You always want to win your season opener and you always want to win your Senior Day game. We did both at the same time – perfect,” Gagnon said.
In addition to honoring the seniors, most coaches also like to have the seniors in the starting lineup on Senior Day. Gagnon is no exception.
“We were not playing like ourselves early, partially because of a very strange lineup,” Gagnon said. “We had people playing out of position and had only practiced with that lineup (the day before). We had to get the chemistry going, figure out what we were doing and the pregame is always wonky on Senior Day. They want to look at their posters. Everyone is ready to cry. It took a moment to get started.”
Fortunately, thanks to Alexia Adams, the Centaurs had a lead early. The senior scored just 4 minutes, 38 seconds into the game off a pass from teammate Avery MacNeil.
To make it even more special, it was Adams first career goal. Adams made it a bookend performance as she also scored the final goal of the game for the Centaurs with 3:02 left in the contest off a feed from Eliza Dutson.
Last year’s leading scorer, Rachel Canedy, picked up where she left off. Canedy, who had six goals last season, put a ball in the net in both the third and fourth quarters.
“Those were pretty goals, really great goals, they will give her a lot of confidence,” Gagnon said.
The defense did the rest. Outside of two Dakota Burns’ shots in the first half, the Wildcats were forced to play largely in their defensive zone leaving Centaurs’ keeper Kaily LaChappelle, for the most part, unchallenged. Not that Houle expected to get much past LaChappelle and Woodstock Academy.
“They have 11 starting seniors. If that’s not intimidating, I don’t know what is. Their goalie is on the All-State road, all the ECC coaches see that and we know that she is phenomenal. Getting to prepare for that and hanging in with them? I’m a proud coach today,” Houle said.
However for Houle, a Killingly High graduate, it was a bittersweet moment. Her team, which has not won a game since October 2016, played well. But the Wildcats first game of the season may have been their last due to the outbreak.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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