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Centaurs
open with win
Smiles all around. There was little for the Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team to be disappointed about after it posted a season-opening, 55-43, win over Norwich Free Academy Tuesday in an ECC Div. I game.
“We accomplished some things that we worked on and tried to get ready. I wish I could show you a snapshot of the (white) board downstairs because I think the girls executed everything I put up there and I thought I had a good tap on how we could get this one. We executed it and it all came true. We got it,” said coach Will Fleeton.
The Centaurs came out of the gates quickly as they scored nine of the first 10 points and raised that lead to 14 by the middle of the second quarter.
But the Wildcats did answer a bit late in the first half, scoring eight of the last 10 points to cut the deficit to eight, 28-20, at the half.
Emily Orcutt, who led NFA with 15 points, put down a fallaway jumper just 34 seconds into the second half to cut the Centaurs lead to six.
That’s when junior Eva Monahan went to work.
The 6-foot inside player stepped out beyond the 3-point line and for a second time in the game put down the shot.
Monahan, who finished with a game-high 21 points, then got three points the traditional way, driving to the basket for a hoop, getting fouled and making the foul shot.
Her six points and a pair of free throws by Kaylee Saucier put the Centaurs back up by 14, 36-22.
NFA would not get closer than nine points.
Indeed, Monahan scored 13 of her points in the first half.
She also managed to get NFA into foul trouble as three of their frontcourt players had two fouls before halftime.
Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain saved her scoring for the bookend quarters as she scored six points each in the first and fourth to finish with 12. Saucier added 10.
The Centaurs battled another ECC Div. I opponent, state Class MM champs, New London, and lost, 48-32.
D’Alleva-Bochain paced the Centaurs with 11 points, nine of those came in the first half.
Saucier added eight points including a pair of 3-pointers.
Boys’ Basketball
Fortunately for the team, the season opener last Thursday is now just a memory.
The Centaurs went on the road Saturday for a short journey to Killingly and posted a 60-46 win to even their record at 1-1 on the year.
Senior Hunter Larson broke out for 18 points including four 3-pointers against Killingly while junior center Brady Ericson added 14 points, eight of those coming on dunks.
The Centaurs built a 19-12 first half lead and more than doubled that advantage by the half, going up by 16 points.
The hosts cut into that lead a bit in the third quarter but Woodstock was able to keep its distance in the fourth.
Garrett Bushey added nine in the win.
Just two days before, the Centaurs opened the year with an ECC Div. II game against Waterford and fell short, 55-32.
The two teams were locked in a close battle with the Lancers up by only three, 35-32, after a slam by Ericson.
Unfortunately, the Ericson dunk came with 3 minutes, 23 seconds left in the third quarter and would be the last points of the game for the Centaurs.
Waterford led by seven at the end of the third quarter and scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth.
Ericson finished with 12 points while Larson added 10.
Girls’ Hockey
It was not exactly an easy opening week for the girls’ hockey team.
The Centaurs played four games including three in a row to start the week and finished up with a 4-1 loss to the Mercy/Northwest Catholic/East Hampton Co-op.
The loss dropped the Woodstock Academy Co-op to 2-3 on the season.
The Tigers scored two goals each in the second and third periods to take the commanding lead.
The only goal for the Centaurs came off the stick of sophomore wing Maci Corradi who tallied off an Ellary Sampson assist with 15 seconds left in the contest.
After an opening game the Saturday before, the Centaurs went on the road for games against Hall/Conard on Monday and Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe on Tuesday.
By the time they got on to their home ice at the Jahn Ice Rink on Wednesday for their fourth game in five days, there was very little left in the tank.
It showed in a 7-1 loss to the Smithfield/Coventry/Moses Brown (R.I.) Co-op.
The Centaurs did jump out on top early as Corradi scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Mia Auger just 3 minutes, 17 seconds into the game.
But the Sentinels answered with three first period goals and two more in each of the next two to pick up their first win in two games this season. The Smithfield Co-Op opened with a tie against Rhode Island rival, South County.
Margaret Baldwin had a hat trick for the Sentinels while Kaylin O’Connor added a pair of goals.
The Centaurs were coming off a long trek to Sacred Heart University in Hamden where they pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe Co-op.
Sophia Gouveia’s second goal of the game with four minutes left in the second period broke a 2-2 tie and proved to be the game winner. Sampson scored her second goal of the season in the third period to add a little insurance.
Mia Williamson and Gouveia each scored in the first period to give the Centaurs a 2-1 advantage before the host team tied it in the second period setting the stage for Gouveia’s winning goal.
Paige Hinckley added two assists for the Centaurs in the win.
The Centaurs opened the week with a 2-0 loss to the Hall/Conard cooperative team. Renee Porter made 26 saves in net for the Centaurs.
Boys’ Hockey
The team gave up three goals in the first eight and a half minutes and three goals in the last two minutes, 58 seconds and fell in their season opener on the road at Providence College to the Prout School, 6-1, last week.
Junior Maxx Corradi scored the only goal of the game for the Centaurs off assists from Troy Daviau and Noah Sampson nine minutes into the second period.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions:
Paige Hinckley, left, of the Woodstock Academy Co-Op hockey, Emmy Monchik, middle, of Smithfield and Ireland Wilford of the Centaurs battle for the puck. Photo by Marc Allard.
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