There were some players in different spots Feb. 17 for the Centaurs girls’ hockey team.
The Academy was down a couple of players due to illness and some planned college visits over the longer holiday weekend so coach Jeff Boshka shifted things around a bit.
Brittnie Burnham and Lily Wilcox moved from forward to defense and the trio of of Maria Santucci , Chelsea Willis and Hannah Clark moved up to second line.
It all paid off as the Centaurs downed Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass., 5-2.
“It was one of our strongest, most complete games of the season,” said assistant coach Sean Farrell. “The first line of Bridget Horst, Ellie Jellison, and Eliza Dutson played an outstanding game and Marie Gravier was stellar in our net, making many great saves to preserve the lead throughout the game.”
Horst participated in all five tallies as she scored twice and assisted on the three others for the Centaurs (7-6).
Dutson added two goals and an assist while Jellison scored the other.
Jellison, Haley Armstrong and Wilcox added assists.
Jellison scored twice and both Santucci and Clark had two assists each, but the Centaurs still lost to Loomis Chaffee, 6-4, on Friday night.
Armstrong and Nicole Bavosi also scored for the Centaurs.
Willis, Abby Kruger and Ashleigh Angle all added assists for the Centaurs while Kaily LaChapelle, making her third start, played well in goal.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

The beads of sweat still hung on Woodstock Academy coach Will Fleeton’s shaved head well after his Centaurs lost a nailbiter, 34-33, to Bacon Academy Feb. 15 in an Eastern Connecticut Conference girls’ basketball tournament quarterfinal game.
“They played hard,” Fleeton said of the Centaurs. “I’m always super-proud of their effort. The way they handled things on the defensive end. I can’t be too broken (Thursday) over losing to a quality team by one free throw. The kids played their heart out. I can’t ask for anything else.”
The Centaurs, at times, threatened to pull away from the Bobcats, but never succeeded.
“We just couldn’t get away. That’s what happens with good teams,” Fleeton said. “Good teams hang around and when you let them, they make you pay at the end. They are a quality group. Five is not good, 15 is not enough (of a lead) against Bacon Academy.”
What made it more difficult for the Centaurs (15-6) was the recent familiarity.
The Centaurs had just played the Bobcats the week before and handled them well, 44-26, at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
“We knew we could play better than we did the last time,” said Bacon Academy coach Dave Shea.
The game was a carbon copy of the two matchups prior (Bacon Academy won on its home floor, 42-40, earlier in the year): A hard-fought, defensive struggle.
It was tied at eight at the end of the first quarter, but a quick five-point flurry on a three-point play by Olivia Perry and a basket by Madison Brennan put the Centaurs up by five for a second time in the game.
But just like the Centaurs 8-3 lead in the first quarter disappeared, so did this one.
Bacon (15-6) rallied for six consecutive points to take a one-point lead, the Bobcats only lead of the game other than at the final buzzer.
A 3-pointer by Mackenzie Cayer (6 points) restored the five-point lead with 1:59 left in the first half. Freshman Caitlin Shea, for a second time in two quarters, hit a late basket but Heather Converse, who led the Centaurs with 12 points, countered to give Woodstock Academy the 23-18 halftime lead.
Jamie Woods briefly gave the Centaurs their biggest lead of the game, 25-18, coming out of the locker room, but the Bobcats didn’t let the Centaurs get any further ahead.
It was a five-point game going into the final period.
Cassidy LaSaracina made it a one-possession game with 6:13 left when she dropped just her second basket of the game, a 3-pointer, to make it 30-28.
Shea tied it up 48 seconds later.
Converse put the Centaurs up with a layup only to see Bacon tie the game again with 3:42 left on a Kellie Nudd hoop.
It was the last basket of the game as both defenses stiffened.
Even a fast break by Molly Kelly of Bacon became an adventure as Brennan caught up to the Bobcats senior and blocked her attempt at a layup.
Woods was fouled with eight seconds left and made one of her free throws.
Bacon point guard, junior Bridget Anderson, put the game away with 1.7 seconds left with a pair of free throws.
“She hit the two shots and that was really great. She is really coming through and we got her back for another year,” Bacon Academy coach Dave Shea said.
Anderson led Bacon with 14 points.
The Centaurs inbounded the ball, but it was knocked out of bounds at halfcourt, leaving Woodstock Academy with less than a second. A desperation shot was well off the mark.
“It was a one possession game,” Fleeton said. “One shot, one loose ball, one free throw, however, you want to look at it. If one bounce had gone our way, there is a total opposite outcome. Both teams played hard. “
The Centaurs are in hibernation for a week and a half, waiting for the Class L state tournament to get underway.
“You can’t prepare for a game better than actual game play, but since that opportunity is gone, all we can do is to try and ratchet it up at practice, turn up the intensity and make it more game-like,” Fleeton said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

The effort could have been better for the Woodstock Academy boys’ hockey team Feb. 19.
“It’s frustrating because we know how much better we can play hockey,” Centaurs assistant coach Bob Donahue said after a 6-2 loss to the Watertown-Pomperaug cooperative at the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School.
“It’s frustrating when they are not playing their best game and making bad decisions,” Donahue added.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 7-9 on the season.
Although it will depend on how the rest of Division II fares over the remainder of the regular season, the Centaurs need to pick up one more win to guarantee themselves a state tournament berth.
“If we want to gain a foothold in the playoffs, we have to win all our games forward. We can’t afford to get sloppy,” Donahue said.
The Academy grabbed the momentum away from the Indians (13-2-1) in the second period on the power play.
Trailing 2-0 just 26 seconds into the second period, Jake Black sent the puck in from the point where Centaurs’ defensemen Ryan Wojciechowski and Liam McDermott managed to sneak into the crease.
McDermott was able to re-direct Black’s shot into the net for his second goal of the season.
“We had to take away (Watertown-Pomperaug goalie Ryan Fleming’s) eyes. When we did that, jammed up the front, we got a goal,” Donahue said.
The Centaurs tied it up with 6:49 left in the period.
Freshman Guerin Favreau took a pass from Doug Newton to the right of Fleming. He drew the goalie’s attention and flicked it back to Newton who scored his third goal of the season.
“Nice pass-and-go. We talk about moving the puck across the road, get the goalie going east-and west. It was a perfect pass and a nice finish,” Donahue said.
But the good times didn’t last long,
An errant clear in the Woodstock Academy end found the stick of Drew Mancini of the Indians. He went 1-on-1 with Dylan Shea and won the battle.
The goal came just 1:43 after Newton’s goal and gave the momentum right back to the Indians.
They didn’t lose it again.
The Indians scored three times in the third period.
Watertown-Pomperaug outshot the Centaurs, 31-14, in the game.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director