Centaurs bring home
Class L state crown
As the bus carrying the Woodstock Academy newly crowned Class L baseball state championship team approached the Bungay Fire Department, the lights began to be seen.
A lengthy procession of fire trucks and emergency vehicles were waiting, ready to escort the yellow bus back to South Campus and a victory celebration after a 5-2 win over RHAM at Palmer Field in Middletown Saturday night.
It was a fitting end to what had been a rather eventful day in the lives of the 18 young men on the baseball team as well as the Woodstock Academy community as a whole.
Just a little over 12 hours before, the school’s seniors turned the tassels on their graduation caps and officially departed as graduates.
But for those on the baseball team, the mission was not quite complete.
The four seniors on the team skipped the graduation celebrations and got ready for the final, most important for most, baseball game that they would play.
The win over the Raptors was the first state championship in the sport in the long history of Woodstock Academy.
“It’s hard to not be romantic about baseball. You saw what happened to us (Saturday). During the season, everyone counted us out, everyone doubted us; no one talked about us preseason. Look at us now. We have the plaque; we got the banner at the field; we got everything. People asked us, ‘What are you going to do if you don’t win?’ And I guess, we will never know,” said captain Eric Mathewson to those assembled inside the South Campus gym around midnight.
For Mathewson, it completed a special day.
“It’s awesome. It’s a very rare chance that you get to graduate and get to play in a state championship on the same day and it’s even rarer that you get to win a state championship. I can’t be more grateful,” he said prior to leaving the field.
Mathewson, unfortunately, did not get a chance to play in the semifinal or championship game. His left ankle was still encased in a boot after he sprained it in a quarterfinal win over Guilford.
On Saturday, the Centaurs were missing not only Mathewson but fellow senior Jack Sumner who suffered a sudden illness and did not make either graduation or the game.
“Jack Sumner has been a solid second baseman for us and with Eric out, we were down two, but we have guys we trust. Brady Lecuyer would be a starter on most other teams in the state. He’s a very good player and getting him in and he had some awesome at-bats. We knew we had guys ready. This team believes in each other,” coach Connor Elliott said.
The game, actually, ended pretty quickly for RHAM.
The third-seeded Raptors’ dugout quickly grew quiet in the bottom of the first inning.
On a 1-0 count. Fayz Baig threw a fastball to Brady Ericson. The junior sent it high into the twilight sky. It didn’t come down until it cleared the bleachers beyond the 322-foot mark in right field.
Keon Lamarche, who had reached on an error, preceded Ericson to plate to give the Centaurs a 2-0 lead.
“It did feel really good,” Ericson said. “It was a nice little energy shift to our side, they got knocked back a little bit.”
“We scored those two runs and it set the tone for the rest of the game,” said senior Noah Sampson.
Not that the Centaurs allowed them the opportunity.
Ericson, pitching for the second time in four days, admitted to being a little sore coming in but he put together a 5 2/3 inning effort, allowed only one hit in the sixth inning and struck out 11.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Elliott said of Ericson. “He deserved the Gatorade bath (Saturday). Coming back on short rest, he threw (104 pitches) on Tuesday, came back (Saturday), gave everything he had and he probably would have made it through the sixth if a ball had not got lost in the lights. What can you say? He shows up in the biggest moments and he has really grown into a leadership role.”
Logan Coutu came on in the sixth to get one out and senior Riley O’Brien finished up, throwing only 13 pitches and striking out the side in the seventh.
Maxx Corradi helped his classmate in the second inning.
Tanner Graham drew a one-out walk, stole second and one out later, Corradi singled home Graham for the 3-0 Centaur lead.
Woodstock (26-2) added two more insurance runs in the fifth.
Lamarche singled and one out later, Hernandez added a base hit. O’Brien drew a walk from reliever Sean Connolly and, one out later, Graham (2-for-2) delivered a two-run single.
“I was seeing the ball well (Saturday). I had a single earlier in the game so I felt like nothing could stop me at the plate and I was aggressive early in the count, swung at the first pitch, and it resulted in two RBIs,” Graham said.
There was a little concern in the sixth.
Ericson (9-0) got the first two outs relatively quickly but Cam McPeck had the only hit of the game for RHAM, a line drive single to left. Ethan Boisvert then reached on the ball getting lost in the lights and Joey Tyler reached on a walk. A passed ball allowed the two Raptor runs to score but Coutu got the fly out to end the threat.
“It’s surreal,” Ericson said of the championship standing in front of the scoreboard sporting the final score, drenched from the water bucket dousing he received from his thankful teammates. “This was an unreal environment. There were so many people here. I’ve never played a game of the caliber of this and to walk away with a win, I could not ask for anything more.”
For Ericson, who still has another year at Woodstock Academy, it will likely not be the last time he plays in front of a big crowd as he has verbally committed to play for UConn.
The state championship was also a vindication of sorts for hockey players like Corradi and Sampson who had anticipated winning a state title, after falling just short the year before, in that sport this past winter.
It was not to be.
“I needed this one definitely,” Sampson said with a smile. “It definitely makes up for it. It would be nice to have two rings but now I have one. It feels great.”
It also left Elliott in a bit of a quandary.
A first-year head coach who wins the ultimate prize- the state title.
That’s difficult to eclipse.
“I don’t think you can better this. You have to go 28-0, I guess. This season is always going to be special. I don’t think you can top it. It’s a testament to the guys and the hard work. Wanting to get better every day, building the team, building that bond with each other. We lost our leader and, arguably, our best player. Doesn’t matter. Next man up. We will find a way and that’s the story of these guys’ season-finding a way. They come back if they need to, run away with it if they need to, they have done a heck of a job all year,” Elliott said.
Semifinal
In the middle of the Class L state tournament semifinal game last Tuesday at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford, Ericson found himself next to O’Brien in the dugout when the Centaurs were at the plate and trailing by two runs.
“I told Riley that I was not ready to be done playing on this team,” Ericson said.
O’Brien and the rest of the team apparently agreed and wanted to go the distance in the state tournament, finish up in the championship game.
The top-seeded Centaurs made that happen as they rallied for a 3-2 victory over No. 13 East Lyme to vault them into the title tilt.
“I don’t know if it’s relief or joy. I’m pretty sure it’s joy but it’s like, all of a sudden, it’s over. All of a sudden, we’re winning and it’s heart attack after heart attack and then it’s over. If that is how it is going to be the rest of the way, I’m OK with it,” said Elliott.
The Centaurs came back in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the sixth inning and then endured a nail biter of a seventh.
Woodstock fell behind the Vikings (18-9), 2-0, in the first three innings as Liam Cochrane had a first-inning RBI double and A.J. Montesano doubled and later scored on a wild pitch.
East Lyme starter Alex Dreyfus did the rest as he held the Centaurs to two hits and struck out 11 in the first five innings.
Still, it was the sixth inning and the Centaurs had just two base hits, one by Corradi in the first inning and the other by Ericson in the fourth.
“We had to change up our approach a bit, which helped, but not that much. Noah Sampson, a kid who has been there before and is great in that nine-hole. I told him, “It just takes one. Get us one ball in play, give us one baserunner, put the pressure on a little, and see where it goes from there. It took six innings but we got there,” Elliott said.
The senior started the game-winning rally when he had an infield single.
That begat a Corradi double to right field that put the tying run in scoring position.
Caleb Simoneau cut the lead in half with an RBI groundout and, after walks to Lamarche and Ericson loaded the bases, Hernandez tied it with a sacrifice fly.
O’Brien followed with what proved to be the game-winning hit when his infield single plated pinch runner Will Bushey.
“I felt like I wasn’t swinging well at the beginning of the game, wasn’t seeing the ball straight. (Dreyfus) wasn’t easy to hit. The new kid (reliever Dylan Joyce) came in and I just stuck with the slider and put it out there,” O’Brien said.
Ericson got the first two outs quickly in the seventh but Montesano reached on an infield single and both Garrison Biggs and Dreyfus walked before the junior lefthander sealed the win with a strikeout.
“It gets a little scary but in moments like that, I can’t let the game get bigger than it is. I’ve seen these guys three times already. I knew what they could and couldn’t hit and I just had to trust myself. You see me talking to myself out there. I work for these moments and as long as I trusted myself, I knew I would get the job done,” Ericson said.
It was a bit of a gut check. But Ericson was up for it.
“If that’s how it’s going to be, so be it. He got the job done at the end and he sure did. He was phenomenal. He battled (Tuesday). He makes it look so easy so much of the time. His ability to stick with it and not give in when things are down and that’s how the team as a whole is. We’ve learned to this point that we can play with anyone, we’re in every game and we have one more game to prove it,” Elliott said.
The happiest person in the dugout was Mathewson.
Still wearing his boot because of a sprained ankle suffered in the quarterfinal win on Saturday,
“Being able to beat this team (East Lyme) that we have beaten three times and they didn’t have their guy (Dreyfus) in one of those games and this time, we didn’t have our guy. The fact that we still beat them, shows how good a team we are, how much we are working toward this final goal,” Ericson said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
2024 David Bunning: Woodstock Academy senior
Pinch runner David Bunning crosses the plate in the fifth inning.
2024 Brady Ericson pitching:
Brady Ericson gutted out his second 100-plus pitch performance in four days.
Maxx Corradi semifinals:
Maxx Corradi scores one of the Centaurs three runs in a narrow, 3-2, victory over East Lyme in the Class L semifinal.
Woodstock Academy baseball team proudly displays the championship plaque.
Everybody jumped into the pile near the pitcher’s mound after Riley O’Brien recorded the strikeout that gave the Woodstock Academy baseball team its first Class L state championship.
Elliott congratulates Ericson:
The turning point of the Class L baseball state championship game came early. Coach Connor Elliott congratulates Brady Ericson along the third base line after Ericson hit a two-run, first inning homer that RHAM never recovered from.
All photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy)
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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs. The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
May 25
Adam R. Ham, 40, Nelson Street, Webster: traveling unreasonably fast, failure to stop at a posted stop sign, operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
May 27
Zachary Prince, 30, Hammond Street, Putnam; criminal violation of a protective order, second-degree reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, second-degree criminal mischief.
May 29
Gayle LaCasse, 44, Riverside Drive, Grosvenordale; second-degree criminal mischief.
May 31
Michael E. Angelo, 44, Sexton Street, New Britain; possession of drug paraphernalia, interfering with an officer.
June 2
Leonardo Martelo, 54, Wilkinson Street, Putnam; disorderly conduct.
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captions, from the top down:
Roberta Rocchetti, Eric Levesque and Rotary President Amanda Kelly.
Roberta Rocchetti, Jordyn Butler and Amanda Kelly.
Incoming Interact co-presidents, from left: Sofia Thurber, June Ferraro with Rotary President Amanda Kelly. Photos courtesy of Doug Porter.
PUTNAM — The Putnam Rotary Interact Club inducted three new officers May 28, kicking off a new year full of service.
Amanda Kelly, the Putnam Rotary Club president, inducted June Ferraro and Sofia Thurber as Interact co-presidents.
Interact Advisor Roberta Rocchetti inducted Kaelyn Tremblay as the new Interact historian and archivist.
Jordyn Butler and Eric Levesque, outgoing co-presidents and seniors from Tourtellotte Memorial High School, gave an overview of all the Interact Club’s achievements from the past year. It was a year full of hard work.
Levesque said the club secured a $1,000 District Rotary grant to help with fencing around the TEEG Community Garden. They also worked hard on revitalizing the garden that had fallen victim to vandals and varmints.
The club also raised $3,000 to purchase a solar suitcase to power a small school in a developing country. Butler talked about the Rotary World Seminar that she attended last June and how we can do little things like repurpose our clothing and avoid wasteful shopping on fad fashions that end up in the landfill.
Sofia Thurber and June Ferraro, juniors from Tourtellotte, spoke about their upcoming year as co-presidents and their focus on children with needs.
They would like the Interact Club to get involved with the Special Olympics, Camp Quinebaug, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and other organizations that address children’s needs.
Rocchetti gave gifts and certificates to Interactors including, from Woodstock Academy: Ava Hovestadt, Emma Kerr, Kira Greene, Jacqueline Dearborn, Kaelyn and Talia Tremblay, Logan Casteen and Amelia Haynes; Putnam High: Gabriell Cerasiello and Paige Perry; Tourtellotte: Eoin and Caitlin Mercer, Melanie Noonan, Serena Smith, June Ferraro, Sofia Thurber, Jordyn Butler and Eric Levesque.
The Interact Club is a regional Rotary-sponsored youth group for ages 12 -18, they meet at 6:30 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday at the Putnam Public Library from September through May. For more information email:
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captions:
Coach Earl Semmelrock, left, looks on as freshman Reagan Scheck sends the ball down the fairway in the ECC girls’ golf championship.
Bella Mawson takes a rip out of the rough on the first hole during the ECC girls’ golf championship. Photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.
Roundup
Rawson named ECC Player of the Year
Logan Rawson has someone to thank that is no longer at Woodstock Academy.
Two years ago, the now junior, had to be convinced to come out and play for the boys’ golf team by his friend and now Woodstock alum, Kyle Brennan.
Rawson just wasn’t all that interested in the game.
He now owes Brennan a debt of gratitude after Rawson was named the inaugural ECC Player of the Year in boys’ golf following the league championship tournament.
“(Brennan) pushed me toward playing. I have known him for a while and he gave me the idea and I thought I might as well try it,” Rawson said.
The Centaurs are happy he did.
“I was thrilled with it,” coach Rich Garceau said of Rawson getting the honor. “I think Logan took a lot of pride in his level of play this year. He was watching the rankings and I think it helped affirm in his mind that he belongs in the upper tier of golfers. Not only in the ECC, but he also made the State Open, so in the state.”
Garceau said Rawson never saw himself as a golfer, instead he was just someone who went out and hacked around with his father on occasion. But the experience of being in the team environment and being able to get together with friends and family on the course in the summer, helped transform Rawson into a pretty good player.
He remembered when he shot a 109 in the ECC tournament two years ago.
On Thursday, he carded an 80 and — guess what — he wasn’t all that pleased.
“My irons are so much better now,” Rawson said. “I probably hit the ball farther than most kids that I play against. My driver is pretty good, but my irons have been amazing.”
Just don’t bring up the short game.
Rawson just winces thinking about it.
“Around the green is pretty rough right now, but my putting is pretty good,” he said.
Nothing went too well early for Rawson in the ECC championship.
He started with a pair of double bogeys, had a bogey on the third hole and then three more over the next six holes.
It was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy as golf usually is.
“I think he knew going into it that he had a reasonable chance to win the individual title and I completely agreed, looking at his success this season. Starting on the first hole, I think he tried too hard to make it happen. You just can’t force the issue in golf, you have to just go out there, get all the other thoughts out of your mind and concentrate on the shot that you are hitting now,” Garceau said.
But he got it together on the back nine.
“To a degree he started to recover toward the end and he helped us as a team in the process to move up in the standings,” Garceau said.
Rawson finished even on the back nine. His eight-over par finish tied him for ninth overall.
“I didn’t think it was terrible but could he have done better? Probably. He knows that. I think the good thing was that we talked at the meal, afterward, and I think he learned a lot about not necessarily playing the game physically on the course but playing the game in his head,” Garceau said.
Senior Donny Sousa paced the Centaurs with a six-over par 78, good enough to tie for fourth.
“Donny’s interesting,” Garceau said. “To a certain degree, he was disappointed because, especially for the last two weeks, he’s been playing at an exceptional level. I think he went in with high expectations for himself and I think those were reasonable. His wedge play is some of the best I’ve ever seen from a Woodstock Academy golfer in year. He plays his 60-degree (wedge) well.”
Senior Nick Sivertsen was next with a 91 for the Centaurs who placed fourth overall as a team.
Rawson and Sousa finished as ECC Division I All-Stars. The team’s ECC Scholar-Athlete is Aidan O’Connor while Brady O’Brien received the team’s ECC Sportsmanship Award.
Garceau was hopeful that East Lyme may not have its best day and maybe his Centaurs could sneak away a title for the first time in 12 years.
That didn’t happen as the Vikings posted a 315 total with Wheeler (328) and Waterford (335) also finishing ahead of Woodstock (343).
“Waterford has really come on really strong and it is their home course so they had a little advantage, regardless, you can’t deny a good level of play. I was pleased for us. It’s probably the best tournament finish we have had in the last 10 years. I can’t remember when we were in the top-5. I think we learned a lot of how to manage a golf course,” Garceau said.
That will be put to the test this week.
The Centaurs qualified for the Div. I state championship.
Rawson qualified individually for the State Open championship on Friday.
“I’m excited,” Rawson said. “Those are both going to be tough. There are a lot of good golfers out there. It’s going to be a nice time and I get to play on some nice courses.”
Woodstock goes in as the 10th seed as a team in the Div. I championship.
“I always like to move up in the rankings,” Garceau said. “Twelve or 13 years ago, I took a 12th seed and we finished second, two shots out of the lead. You just never know. If all clocks chime at the same time, which we really haven’t had happen yet. I would love to win. East Lyme is really strong and there are other teams from other places. I know a 10th seed can do it, but it’s the experience of playing an 18-hole, competitive tournament with good golfers that is going to help this team learn a lot.”
Girls’ Golf
Freshman Reagan Scheck stated her goal in the middle of the Woodstock girls’ golf season. She just wanted to be scoring in the low 40’s by the end of the season.
Scheck accomplished that and it paid off last Wednesday as she finished runner-up in the ECC girls’ golf championship with a seven-over par 43.
“It really has progressed,” Scheck said of her game. “I feel like I can go even lower next year, maybe high 30’s.”
Scheck played a consistent nine holes of golf in the championship match. She didn’t get any birdies but did par five holes.
“She has been rounding into form and personal bests have been coming every other round or so and she is starting to learn how to control a golf ball. It’s good to see,” coach Earl Semmelrock said.
Scheck finished three strokes behind medalist Caroline Goderre of Norwich Free Academy.
“I knew that (she could be near the top) if I put my mind to it. I’m really happy and I’m glad I did it,” Scheck said.
Scheck had a struggle on a par-three that could have put her below 40 for the day.
“She’s that close to really putting in some good scores. She’s excited about it and it’s fun to coach her,” Semmelrock said.
Senior Isabella Siwko saved her best for last. In her final outing as a member of the Centaurs, she shot a 54.
“This was my all-time low in a match, I’m really happy,” Siwko said. “It was a great way to finish out the year. I’m really proud of the team and really proud of Reagan for finishing second and I think this team will do really well in the future.”
Lily Moran also scored well, a career-best, putting a round of 51 together.
Combined those scores meant the Centaurs posted one of their best numbers of the season as a team, 204.
“We had expectations coming in to do as good as we could and I think we fulfilled those (Wednesday),” Semmelrock said.
Woodstock finished fifth as a team, but was just 12 strokes back of first-place NFA.
The Centaurs finished the regular season just the day before with a 201-216 loss to the Killingly/Ellis Tech co-op.
Woodstock finished 5-11 overall and 2-8 in the ECC regular season.
“Very pleased,” Semmelrock said of the final record. “When the schedule was being put together at the beginning of the season, it looked like we had only four girls, maybe five. We thought we would have two or three wins this year and that would be successful. We ended with five wins and six players and had a good finish here (Wednesday).”
Unfortunately, the season came to an end as the Centaurs did not qualify for state play.
“It’s a little disappointing but I didn’t think it was a realistic goal at the beginning of the year. I thought maybe Reagan could sneak in as an individual but she will finish just outside the line and that should give her something to play for next year,” Semmelrock said.
Siwko is the only player the Centaurs will lose to graduation.
“This team has a lot of potential for the future especially because multiple teams are composed of more seniors. I feel like someone else will step up and take my place and shoot better than I did. The team is in a really good place,” Siwko said.
Track
The Woodstock girls’ track team had hopes for a state championship. But almost everything had to go right.
The Centaurs didn’t finish far from their goal as Hillhouse, their expected primary competition was just that, finishing with 73 points. Mercy High School snuck in with 60 followed by Woodstock with 55.
“Third is OK,” coach Josh Welch said. “Finishing third is a lot to be proud of for our program. We’ve come a long way. It’s a good thing. It’s tough to fight some of the disappointment when you know if we just had the right day, it could have been there but we had some weird mishaps that made it tough.”
Still, the Centaurs were in contention for the state title right up until just three events remained where they trailed Hillhouse by only nine points.
Unfortunately, the triple jump resulted in a first-place finish for the New Haven-based school.
That was followed by the 3200m where senior Julia Coyle could not go.
She was a part of the 4x800m relay team, along with Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain, Talia Tremblay and Olivia Tracy that finished third in the first event of the meet.
“She went for a run on the road (the previous) weekend and came back with some tendinitis in the knee. She muscled it out for the 800 but was hit-and-miss in the1600m. She was going for it, pulled back, and then pushed again, not a great day because of that,” Welch said.
In addition, Jillian Edwards fell in the 100m hurdles.
There were plenty of possible reasons why and it wasn’t only Woodstock beset by bad luck and the like.
“I don’t know what was impacting people. Coming off the long weekend was tough, people were kind of vegging, and then had to try and get it back together. The 10 a.m. start time was different for us. It got hot and humid quick, too, and we haven’t really combatted a whole lot of that. I think it was just overwhelming. The overall expectation of the kids coming in was like ‘Oh my God, we can win this thing.’ Sometimes, that pressure can get to you. We’re not used to being at that level,” Welch said.
There were some very good performances.
D’Alleva-Bochain picked up the only first-place finish on the day for the Centaurs as she threw a personal best 117-feet, 8-inches in the javelin to earn the title of Class MM state champion in the event.
“It was awesome,” Welch said. “She has shown a lot of continued growth. We didn’t expect her to hit state champion, being new to the event and everything, but she is continuing to grow a lot.”
D’Alleva-Bochain said the new event, she has only competed in it four times, has just come natural to her.
“Coach (Gerry) LaMontagne is fantastic and I have a lot of great teammates who can teach me a lot. I just listen to everything they say,” the sophomore said.
D’Alleva-Bochain said it was certainly a surprise to win especially since she eclipsed her previous best by seven-feet.
Despite that, she doesn’t think she is anywhere close to her best in the event.
“I think I have a lot more to go. I’ve been practicing ever since (the MM meet), and just feeling more fluid. Right now, I’m just working on that final plant step, which is called blocking, transferring as much energy from my legs into the jav that I can. It’s all about efficiency,” D’Alleva-Bochain said.
She’s looking forward to having another opportunity on Monday in the State Open (the meet ended too late for this edition)
She is seeded fifth, top six go to New England’s, so it’s easy to guess what her goal is.
“I’m eyeing that definitely,” she said. “I’m having a lot of fun with it. There is not a lot of pressure. I just want to see what I can produce.”
The throwers, overall, had a good day as Lily Morgis placed second in the discus and Avery Plouffe was fourth in the shotput.
On the track, Juliet Allard was third in the 300m hurdles and fifth in the 200m.
“(Allard) had an all-around solid day. She didn’t PR (personal-best) in anything but wasn’t too far off in anything and it’s difficult to have a triple event day on a hot day,” Welch said.
Emma Weitknecht was fourth in the 100m hurdles.
Jillian Edwards placed fifth in the high jump and Reegan Reynolds was sixth in the triple jump.
Those who finished in the top three; D’Alleva Bochain (javelin, 4x800m); Tracy (4x800m); Tremblay (4x800m); Coyle (4x800m); Allard (300m hurdles); Plouffe (shotput) and Morgis (discus) qualified for the State Open Championship.
They will be joined by junior Christian Menounos who was the only athlete from the boys’ track team to qualify as he placed third in the Class MM state championship in the 800m.
Boys’ Lacrosse
It’s a word that Jason Tata has used before this season. Bummer.
The Woodstock boys’ lacrosse coach was thinking that as he looked over the CIAC Class M state tournament rankings prior to the field being announced.
He was looking to see if the Centaurs were going to be involved in a play-in game or where they might be headed.
He saw his Centaurs were No. 14 in the field at the time. East Lyme was No. 3.
Woodstock started the season with a match against the Vikings, played them again in the middle of the season and had to face them again in the second round of the state tournament.
“I joked with (East Lyme coach Gary Wight) that I guess we’re just going to see each other over and over again,” Tata said. “It’s just a bummer in the sense that you want to see someone new. You want to venture to the other side of the state. I don’t shy away from any opponent, but at the same time, a little change would have been sweet.”
The third time was also not the charm as the Centaurs fell behind by the half, 9-0, and lost to East Lyme, 16-1.
Seamus Coleman had the only goal for Woodstock in the fourth quarter off an assist from Sam Desmond.
“We haven’t had a ton of luck with East Lyme in my four years here so it is what it is. I know his players, he knows mine. It usually comes down to who comes out and play.”
The loss meant the Centaurs finished 7-10 but reached their goal of making the state tournament.
It was their fourth consecutive year under Tata that they have made the postseason.
“I thought it was a great season,” the coach said. “We made so many strides to better the program. We were more competitive within the ECC. We had four really tight games against two teams in the division and that’s a positive. If one of those Waterford games or the other NFA game came to our side, we would be having a different conversation. We may even still be in the tournament.”
The Centaurs are also still pretty young. They will lose only six seniors.
“It’s next guy up and we can fill the holes. That’s the beauty of high school sports,” Tata said. “It will be tough losing (Jacob) Lizotte and Wally (Ryan Wallace) on our defense, Henry (Wotton) and Lucas (Theriaque) in the midfield and Jared (Neilsen) up top. Those were key pieces but we have guys who are ready to slide in whether it was those who were swing players on the varsity team, straight up JV guys or maybe a new kid comes in and surprises us. We’re not going to worry about it until next year.”
The biggest thing Tata will be looking for next spring is a bit more lacrosse IQ.
“We need to get smarter about the game than anything else. You can always train to be bigger, faster, stronger, but we have to worry about our game IQ as much as our bodies,” Tata said. “If I’m looking at the depth chart, there will be more seniors next year. Those guys have to step up and learn the game a bit more because we’re right there.”
Boys’ Volleyball
The biggest problem for the Woodstock boys’ volleyball team next season?
Find some tall players. Skills can be taught. Telling student-athletes they have to grow may be a little more difficult.
The Centaurs will be losing the height of seniors Aiden Finch, Cade Jones, T.J. Osborne and Hunter Larson.
“Those guys are all tall,” coach Adam Bottone said. “They can put up a decent block, it didn’t always go down, but that was a technique thing. Their timing was good. I think that will be the hardest thing to do- replace that height.”
Bottone will have some time to think about it and troll the hallways of Woodstock trying to find some tall folks as the season came to an end.
The 11th-seeded Centaurs lost a first-round Class M state tournament match to No. 6 Newtown, 3-0.
The Nighthawks had an abundance of what the Centaurs will be looking for next season.
Bottone said he was talking to the first-year head coach for Newtown, Jeremy Doski, and he had a problem that the Centaurs wouldn’t mind having especially next season.
The Nighthawks returned an abundance of hitters this season, all of them middles, meaning they could feature a lot of tall bodies.
“He had to convert some middle hitters to outside and right-side hitters,” Bottone said, sounding a little jealous.
Newtown was dominant through most of the match, winning the first two 25-16 and 25-9, before the Centaurs made it a little difficult in the third set where they battled but fell short, 26-24.
“They made a lot of mistakes, but we made more. They understood the game a little better than our guys do. They were a little more consistent with their receive, their blocking was a little more productive because they were angling down and in and we weren’t. But you look at that last set, they made a lot of errors but our passing was much better, we were able to terminate the ball more and our serving was more effective. It all circles back to consistency and understanding the flow,” Bottone said.
Osborne had three kills, Owen Budd added three blocks and Christian Hart had 10 digs.
Woodstock finished 10-12.
“I just keep going back to our goal was to make the state tournament, we did that. I feel like we had the opportunity to get more wins and play better and in some matches, we played really well and in others, we didn’t. It was a bit of a struggle for me because I saw the potential that was there but we seemed to come up short quite a bit. Overall though, I am happy. We started four freshmen and were competitive with teams that have been around for a while,” Bottone said.
One thing he does admit is that the seniors the team is losing will impact the program, not only because of the loss of their height, but their talent.
One of the guiding hands behind the establishment of the program, Finch made his one year worth it as he led the team with 163 kills, was second with 134 service points, 119 digs and 42 aces and was third with 12 blocks.
Fortunately, Brayden Bottone will return and the freshman had some pretty good numbers, too, with a team-best 49 aces and 146 service points plus 113 digs and 102 kills.
To be even better, Adam Bottone, who also coaches girls’ volleyball, said he feels a little bit like a broken record.
“It really comes down to serving and receiving,” Adam Bottone said. “We have to be more productive at passing the ball when the other team is serving. We have to be more effective with our serve and after, it comes down to understanding the flow of the game and making good decisions.”
The coach said he doesn’t feel like numbers will be a problem next season for his program as he loses eight out of 19.
“As long as everyone else comes back, I don’t think replacing eight people is that awful. I think it’s manageable,” he said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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