Honored
Sophomore Carlos Rodriguez Camacho was chosen to play for the Youth Olympic hockey team from Spain recently. The 3-on-3 tournament began this past weekend in Gangwon, South Korea. Photo contributed by The Woodstock Academy.

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PSA’s Prep basketball team had a huge test earlier this week with a Tuesday game against Top 10 foe South Kent, but the Mustangs were feeling good about the state of things heading into the game after a 2-0 week last week.
It started with an 84-62 win over Redemption Friday, as Oswin Erhunmwunse had his most dominant game yet since returning from injury. He made nine-of-10 shots and finished with 20 points, five rebounds, and six blocks and PSA blew the game open in the second half. Erhunmwunse did all that in just 18 minutes of playing time in just his third game as he continues to work his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
Ben Ahmed didn’t miss much either, going seven-for-nine on his way to 15 points and six rebounds. No one else scored in double figures, but PSA got a little bit from a lot of guys including Justin Johnson (eight points, three steals), Tony Williams (eight points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals), Fallou Gueye (four points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals), Imahri Wooten (four assists, four steals, three blocks), Grant Randall (five points, five rebounds, three blocks), Amdy Ndiaye (seven rebounds and a block), and Que Duncan (eight points).
Johnson put his offensive (and defensive) talent on display Sunday, scoring 28 points and coming up with five steals in a 125-91 win over Bridgeport Prep. It was both an individual season-high in points as well as a team-high total.
“The coaches push me so hard on defense,” Johnson said, “because they know it gets my offense going. When I get those fast break steals, there’s no stopping me coming back on offense. I’m feeling comfortable and seeing it go through the hoop. I’m just letting it fly.”
Williams added 10 points, seven assists, four steals, and four rebounds, while Fallou Gueye had 10 points, seven assists, and three steals for PSA (14-9).

The Elite team went 2-1 last week as Sebastian Fermin has started coming into his own offensively. He had 22 points, including six in overtime, to propel PSA to a 96-93 win over Redemption, then had 17 points and six rebounds in a 94-87 loss to We Believe. And in Sunday’s 101-91 victory over NY Military Academy, the 6-foot-3 guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., had a team-high 19 points.
“Sebastian does a lot of things well for this team,” coach Nick Schmidt said. “He defends, crashes the offensive glass and makes shots. He’s confident because he works at it. He’s in the gym working every day and now it’s showing in games.”

The Varsity team also went 2-1. They dropped a 90-76 decision to Redemption Monday then bounced back with a 65-58 win over Hoosac and a 53-44 victory over Rocky Hill (R.I.). Ilan Da Silva-Alp knocked down six 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 21 points against Redemption, while Martyn Poliuchovic added 17.
Amyas Hall-Chiari scored 16 points and Julien Ville added 13 at Hoosac to help snap a three-game losing streak. Da Silva-Alp made four more 3-pointers to finish with 12 points.  for PSA (5-5).
Shane Sebastian-Smalls led a balanced scoring attack against Rocky Hill going for 14 points, while Vlad Vetrov had 12, Julien Ville 11, and Hall-Chiari chipped in with 10 for PSA (6-5).
The girls’ team went winless in three games but had a great shot Friday night against Brewster Academy. PSA’s furious second-half rally fell just short as Tati Bell’s putback attempt at the buzzer was blocked, sealing Brewster’s 47-46 win. Brewster took the lead with 10 seconds left on a contested shot in the lane as the shot clock wound down to set up the final frantic play.
Carlota Lopez got into the lane and kicked it out to Kate Lipatova, whose 3-point attempt from the right wing was off the mark. Bell had great position and grabbed the miss out of the air on the opposite block, then went right back up but the Brewster defender on Bell’s back was able to block the shot from behind. The Mustangs (6-13) were left in stunned disbelief.
“I feel for them and understand their pain after being so close,” coach Greg Canzater said afterward. “But that feeling should make them think about the first half and all the things we didn’t do. We played great in the second half, the way we are supposed to play. We played awful in the first half, and it cost us.
“We talk all the time about the little things making the difference for us. And (Friday night), they certainly did.”
Poor communication on defense and poor shot selection and too many missed layups on the other end throughout the first half plagued PSA, which trailed 20-12 at the break. But the Mustangs came out energized in the third quarter, and actually took a 25-24 lead with three minutes left in the quarter when Lopez drilled a long 2. The game went back and forth from there as Lipatova and Bell made big shots down the stretch of the fourth quarter until the final play.
Lopez finished with a team-leading 10 points, five assists, and four steals. Lipatova had seven points (all in the fourth quarter) and seven rebounds while Bell added seven points (all in the second half) and five rebounds. Helena Kovacic also finished with seven points for PSA.
Lopez also led the team in scoring with 15 points in a loss to Winchendon, and again in a loss to Monroe College when she had 22 points.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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Field hockey and lacrosse.
Outside of her family, the two sports define the life of Heather Miller.
The Norwich resident will bring her love for both to Woodstock Academy beginning this spring.
She was recently named the head coach of the girls’ lacrosse team beginning this spring and field hockey in the fall for the Centaurs.
“I’m excited,” Miller said. “I really do like routine and I love consistency. A new environment, a new atmosphere is good, but I do want to put roots down somewhere. Twenty years in the Navy, I had to change where I was coaching every three years and that was not enough to establish roots and put my stamp on something. I really want to take the time to be somewhere and grow a program and that will take season after season. I want to be somewhere that is the same, because everywhere else I coach is never the same.”
Miller’s husband is now out of the Navy and they have chosen to settle in Connecticut allowing her the time to establish those roots.
She has been coaching high school athletic teams for the last eight years.
Interestingly, this will be the first time she coaches the two sports, field hockey and lacrosse, at the same institution.
But her resume goes much beyond the high school realm.
She is also the coach of the HTC field hockey club in Madison and beyond even that, is a coach with both the USA Field Hockey and USA Lacrosse National Development Training programs, the pathway to Team USA and the Olympics in both sports.
She does that throughout the spring and summer, especially on weekends, but will have time to devote to the Woodstock girls’ lacrosse program.
“My USA directors tell me to concentrate on (the high school program) first because we have a group of coaches. It’s a group of five or six of us who share duties,” Miller said.
Miller’s love for field hockey began early.
She started to play the sport in fourth grade in Virginia.
In high school, she joined the lacrosse program as well.
She was offered a scholarship to play field hockey for Virginia Wesleyan but turned that down in favor of a scholarship to play Div. I lacrosse at Longwood University in Farmville, Va.
There, she became a two-sport athlete as Longwood also asked her to play field hockey for the school.
She became an educator and a coach and has coached both sports ever since.
But coaching both at one school is something she is looking forward to.
“It gives me more time for me to do what I need to do, more time to make connections and cultivate relationships which is super important to me,” Miller said. “I’m the same coach in lacrosse that I am in field hockey. It’s just the skill sets and rules are different but my philosophy, my expectations and no-nonsense type of style are the same. I coach with the loving hand of discipline. I discipline because I care. (Athletes) represent the school, represent me, represent the sport, so there will be discipline where needed but never without love and encouragement.”
One thing that she has found to be different is the state of the two sports in Connecticut as opposed to where she grew up in Virginia.
Both girls’ lacrosse and field hockey lack the drawing power of more established sports such as soccer and basketball in Connecticut and that is not only the case for athletes.
“It just blows my mind because lacrosse is everywhere (in Virginia) and Virginia is not even Maryland when it comes to lacrosse. Field hockey is bigger than lacrosse in Virginia although lacrosse is growing. Maybe that was naïve of me when I came to Connecticut, even for coaching opportunities, I was like,’Where are they?’,” Miller said.
That’s one of the reasons why when she first comes on board, the plan is simple: Focus on the fundamentals.
Many young student-athletes have not even been exposed to either sport when they sign up to play.
“My whole basis of coaching is fundamentals, that’s part of my philosophy. You cannot progress if you do not master the fundamentals of each of those sports. Everything that is “fancy”, everything that is advanced or really cool to watch these players do would not have happened if they did not know the fundamentals,” Miller said.
To help solve the problem, Miller has asked if there is interest in offseason activities for the two sports.
“We’re looking at doing camps and clinics. Whether it is a Woodstock Academy camp or clinic for youth development or high-school aged girls or middle school girls. I’m also going to see if we can bring USA-type development to the school and area, too,” Miller said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy


caption:
Heather Miller will be coaching two programs at the same school for the first time in her lengthy coaching career as she will guide the Woodstock Academy girls lacrosse and field hockey programs. Photo by Marc Allard.

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