captions:
Linsey Arends in green.
Stella DiPippo in orange.
Photos by Peter Lusa
WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Academy first-year girls’ cross-country head coach Joe Banas knew the talent that both sophomore Stella DiPippo and freshman Linsey Arends possessed before the two ever stepped foot on to the school campus.
All three live on the same road in Brooklyn and Banas has often glimpsed them running past the house.
Now those two young ladies are part of Banas’ program.
“I’m grateful for this opportunity to coach all the girls, but Linsey in particular, because I’ve known her, seen her grow up and she will be a great boost to the team,” Banas said.
Banas was an assistant coach at The Academy last year and replaces John Ywarsky who stepped aside as head coach following last season.
“I am ecstatic,” Banas said of being elevated to the top spot. “Two years ago, I was coaching at three different high schools, three different sports and working for three different athletic directors. To be here and to also be the assistant distance coach for both indoor and outdoor track trams as well – good things happen to those who wait. It’s more than a good thing, it’s a great thing. At 61 years old, I’m really happy.”
The Centaurs girls finished 10-2 overall and second to Stonington with an 8-2 record in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
They went on to place fifth in the ECC championship meet with DiPippo earning All-ECC honors with a third-place finish as an individual.
DiPippo finished 25th in the Class L state championship and the Centaurs placed 15th as a team.
From that team, only Hannah Matsas has graduated.
Banas is hoping to better those numbers.
But he realizes, he will have to develop more than just DiPippo and Arends.
“I had this at Killingly. We had a great 1-2 punch, but we couldn’t close. There were times when we would go 1-2 in a race and lose. If we can get that pack – they may be playing musical chairs but that’s good because competition is a good thing – it will move everyone up because they will know their spot is not safe,” Banas said. “I can’t have a four-minute gap between the second and third runner because too many teams will just pile a whole boatload of kids in there and the result will not be positive.”
The Centaurs have three seniors, Shannon D’Alessandro, Aria Gianfriddo, and Summer Chaponis and three juniors, Meg Gohn and Alexia Bourbeau, both of whom will serve as captains, and Cassidy Fortier.
“I’m pretty excited. I love running and I’ve been doing it since middle school, it’s an honor,” Gohn said of being named captain.
Gohn added that it’s nice to have two talented underclassmen like DiPippo and Arends because it will force the older girls to work harder this season.
Also returning to the team is sophomore Emily McClure.
Newcomers, in addition to Arends, are fellow freshman Leah Castle, sophomore Mallory Tyimok and junior Julia Theriaque.
Banas asked the team to do about 200 miles during the summer to try to get ready for the season and, he thinks, most did the work.
Banas feels the Centaurs can make some noise this season, even though they have been moved up to Division I against schools like East Lyme, the defending ECC champ.
“(Vikings coach) Mike Flynn is a good friend and a great coach. Plus, Norwich Free Academy (the ECC championship runner-up last season) and Fitch, we have our work cut out for us, but we’re up for the challenge,” Banas said.
The Centaurs begin this weekend when they compete in the first big event of the season, the Windham Invitational at Windham High School, on Saturday.
Banas has entered the team into the varsity championship race.
“I don’t want to shy away from the best. If you want to be the best, you have to run against the best. I’m looking to go at it,” Banas said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
..
Legal Notice
Pomfret Board of
Assessment Appeals
Pursuant to Section 12-110 of the Connecticut General Statutes, any person claiming to be aggrieved by the doings of the Assessor for motor vehicles on the Grand List of 2017 may appeal therefrom to the Board of Assessment Appeals. Such appeal shall be made in person along with the vehicle to the Board on September 24, 2018, between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Pomfret Town Hall, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret.
Dated at Pomfret, CT
this 28th day
of August, 2018
Raymond Wishart,
Pomfret BAA Chairman
Sept. 6, 2018
Legal Notice
Town of Putnam
Board of Assessment
Appeals
All owners of motor vehicles registered in the Town of Putnam are hereby notified that the Board of Assessment Appeals of the Town of Putnam will meet in the Board of Education Conference Room, second floor, Town Hall, on Tuesday, September 11th at 5:00 p.m. The sole purpose of the meeting will be for the hearing of appeals related to the assessment of motor vehicles. All persons claiming to be aggrieved by the doings of the Assessor of the Town of Putnam with regard to motor vehicle assessments on the Grand List of October 1, 2017, are hereby warned to make their appeal to the Board of Assessment Appeals at the above stated meeting place and time.
Board of Assessment Appeals
Lee Konicki, Chairman
Joseph Hopkins
Anne Lamondy
Sept. 6, 2018
.
WOODSTOCK – Paul Rearden hails from Scotland.
So it only figures that The Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer coach gave his team an example from the British Isles to equate to their situation this season.
He told the team how his favorite English soccer club, Liverpool, lost its top player around Christmas last year.
Rearden said everybody thought the season was over for the side.
“Liverpool actually became a better team after he left,” Rearden said. “That’s not a negative. Everybody else knew they had to step up and the support players became the superstars.”
Rearden told that to the team because the Centaurs are in similar straits.
They have lost over 65 percent of their scoring from last season when they finished 12-7-1 to graduation.
“It’s a great opportunity for the boys coming in to fill those gaps. They just have to believe it,” Rearden said.
The team has seen Italian exchange student Jacopo Ambrosetti, who led the team with 17 goals, move on as has Jack Gelhaus who finished with seven goals and 10 assists. Eli Child (3 goals, 1 assist) also has graduated.
And with them, has gone some of the team’s leadership.
“We have to step up because we did lose some key players from last year. I think we have enough players to fill the roles that those players had,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb, a senior midfielder, will serve as a captain for a second consecutive season. He was not at 100 percent for much of last season, but still contributed four goals and two assists.
“We definitely need to find some goal scoring this year, but I do think kids will step up. Every year, someone steps up, it will happen,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb and fellow midfielders Sean Rearden, Doug Newton and Huck Gelhaus will be helping to set up strikers Aaron Johnson and Eric Phongsa as well as looking for opportunities for themselves.
The Centaurs may not need to be a prolific scoring side.
Rearden is pretty confident in his team’s defensive capabilities.
The team’s other returning captain, Cole Hackett, plays in the back with fellow senior Chase Anderson and Lucas Couture and juniors Nate Craig and Aidan Morin.
Woodstock Academy also lost starting keeper Connor Huda.
Junior Jack Lotter will take over in front of the net.
“Technically, he’s a fantastic goalkeeper. He hasn’t got Huda’s size, but technically, he’s really good,” Rearden said.
Rearden feels the Centaurs have the talent to be as good as last season.
Woodstock Academy qualified for the ECC and state tournaments and won a game in each.
The Centaurs downed Fitch in a play-in game, but lost to Lyman in an ECC quarterfinal.
They moved on to the Class L state tournament where they beat Brookfield in a hard-fought, first-round match at home, 4-3, before falling in a second-round match on the road at Masuk.
Unlike the Centaurs girls soccer team, the boys will stay in Division II in the ECC this season with the likes of Waterford, Bacon Academy, New London and Ledyard.
The Centaurs also meet Norwich Free Academy twice and will play another of the league’s best, East Lyme.
“East Lyme is always good. They lose kids and get more back. We have NFA twice and I’m very excited about that,” Holcomb said.
Rearden, in his third year at the helm, still thinks his team needs to find a quality to be successful this season.
“Belief,” Rearden said is the key to the season for his club. “It seems like the varsity boys are a real quiet group at the moment. That’s got to change. We have to adjust to the physicality of (high school soccer). We have more premier soccer players (on the team) than we have had the previous two, but this is not premier soccer. It’s going to be a lot more physical. Premier soccer, you normally play against those your age. They are playing against men now.”
The Centaurs open at 4 p.m. Sept. 7 on the road at Stonington.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
..
WOODSTOCK — Two things that usually spell good things for a high school team; talent and chemistry.
The Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team has plenty of both going into its season and home opener against Bacon Academy at 2 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
“On our second day of tryouts, we were already working together so well. I can just see us going super-far this season,” said senior Ashleigh Angle.
The Centaurs went pretty far a year ago.
For the first time in program history, it captured the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship with a 6-0 win over Plainfield.
The team has come a long way.
“You build for it, you can’t wait for it, because if you wait for it, you may never get it,” said coach Dennis Snelling.
He recalled what core group of his team experienced as freshmen, matches like a 10-0 loss to East Lyme.
“Now, they are the team with the target, at the top,” Snelling said.
And most of them who got to experience the rise to the top last season will get a chance to defend that title. Sixteen members of last year’s varsity squad are back in a Centaurs’ uniform this season.
They will be missing some key pieces.
Makara Sorel, who shared the team lead with eight goals, has graduated as has the Most Outstanding Athlete of the Woodstock Academy senior class last year, Kennedy Davignon.
But Snelling is happy with the group he has.
“I think we want to play with more pace, faster. Do the things we do well, but do them at a higher level,” Snelling said.
Ivy Gelhaus, a two-time Class L All-State player, is back after a 15-point, eight-goal season to lead the offense.
“Everybody knows about her so the trick there will be to get other people up into the attacking part of the field. We’re not going to leave it all up to Ivy,” Snelling said.
Getting others to contribute shouldn’t be a problem.
The Centaurs had 14 different players in the scoring column last year.
Brynn Kusnarowis was only a freshman last season and was a dominant defensive player in the middle for the Centaurs.
“She can only improve and her vision and fitness are better. She has really taken on a leadership role vocally,” Snelling said.
The Centaurs will miss Davignon (3 goals, 7 assists) and her ability to elevate in the middle.
Enter: Angle.
“Ashleigh is probably one of the better aerial players in the female game at this age,” Snelling said.
All four of Angle’s goals last season came off of headers.
“I think I have more accuracy with my head than my foot,” Angle said with a laugh.
Angle realizes she may be needed to fill in the role that Davignon occupied.
“I feel like I have to do that and also change my role on the field. I need to play a little more defensive this season. I feel like it will help our team as a whole,” Angle said.
Angle is also a team leader.
She proved her ability to motivate this past summer when strength and conditioning workouts took place at 7:30 a.m.
“That’s very early and a bunch of us didn’t want to get up at 7:30 in morning and Brooklyn kids had to get up at 6 to be there for 7:30. I would just force people to go, make sure that everyone was getting there and if they weren’t, I texted them, called them, emailed them. It’s vital for the season. Everyone had to come in fit,” Angle said.
The Centaurs also have a pair of experienced keepers in Irene Askitis and Rachel Holden.
But as much as they accomplished last season, there is still more to do.
The Centaurs finished 16-5 overall, but were 8-2 in ECC Division II and finished runners up to Bacon Academy.
This year, Woodstock Academy battles the likes of Norwich Free Academy, East Lyme and Fitch in Division I.
The Centaurs also lost to Joel Barlow in the first round of the Class L state tournament. After battling to a scoreless tie in regulation, the Centaurs lost the match on penalty kicks, 7-6.
“It’s very difficult,” Angle said of trying to keep the energy going after winning an event like the ECC tournament and then having to start all over again in the state tournament. “We are going to have five captains this season and we’re all going to work together to motivate every player. If we keep the push, the driven attitude, we will be able to keep the mindset on the field.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
..