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Roundup
Soccer team
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The girls’ soccer team pulled themselves within a win or a tie of qualifying for the Class L state tournament with a 3-2 win on the road against Ellington.
That’s important as the remaining schedule doesn’t have many easy matches on it.
The Centaurs (5-4-2) begin the week with matches against formidable opponents, Wethersfield and E.O. Smith.
The Centaurs also have to play the remaining three matches of their ECC Div. I season, going on the road against Stonington and NFA before finishing up at home against East Lyme.
“We’re looking at all of them as potential make-or-break games at this point,” said coach Dennis Snelling. “Every team is in kind of the same situation, getting ready for the end of the regular season. It’s a wild schedule. We have two of probably the best teams in the state back-to-back (Wethersfield and E.O. Smith Monday and Tuesday which ended too late for this edition) to get ready for our more important league games.”
That’s why it’s good that junior forward Leah Costa is peaking at the right time.
Costa has eight goals in the last five matches including two each in the win over Ellington and a 4-0 win over Fitch earlier in the week.
“If you take away the Waterford game (a 2-0 loss on Oct. 7), she’s had two goals a game. I think she started off slow and was disappointed but eight goals in five games is great for the team and her confidence,” Snelling said.
Costa came to the Academy from Stonington a year ago and was a nice complementary to Grace Gelhaus as Costa finished with 13 goals and seven assists.
The graduation of Gelhaus (25 goals, 11 assists) meant the scoring load has fallen upon her shoulders a bit more this season.
“She just runs through defenses,” Snelling said. “A forward is a go-to player no matter what but she is definitely the one that will get ahead of the defense more.”
But it wasn’t only the two goals that were important as Costa also contributed on what proved to be the game-winning goal.
Isabella Selmecki scored that with 11 minutes left in regulation.
“Leah got some space behind the defense, crossed it with her left foot and, in a crowd of people, Izzy deflected it in intentionally. It was a great goal,” Snelling said.
Avery Danis and Juliet Allard had assists in the win.
The girls’ soccer team was coming off a successful day in Groton earlier in the week.
Costa was again the catalyst as the junior opened the scoring 4 ½ minutes into the contest and then added a second tally off a Selmecki assist.
Rita Rawcliffe also scored in the first half for a 3-0 halftime lead for the Centaurs.
Emma Massey finished things with a second half goal off an assist from Kendall McCormack.
Cross-Country
It’s the annual pilgrimage to the Norwich Golf Course for the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams this upcoming week.
The postseason begins for the sport with the ECC championship races on Thursday.
“I love that course,” boys’ coach Josh Welch said of the Norwich Golf Course. “I think it’s great to have the team race something that challenging prior to going out to Wickham Park (in Manchester for the state championship races) because then, it’s like, ‘(Wickham Park) isn’t that bad’. We have run on so many courses like Hopeville (Pond in Jewett City) and East Lyme that are fairly flat. So it’s nice to get us back into something that has significant hill work. This is, sometimes, the first time we see considerable changes in elevation.”
The Centaurs top runner, junior Christian Menounos, has a shot at a first-place finish Thursday.
He will have to deal with the likes of East Lyme’s Sean McCauley who beat him by eight seconds in their dual race at Rocky Neck State Park.
“I think Christian could be much tougher on hills than (McCauley). We might work hills a little more than they have because we have hillier places to run but (McCauley) is a solid runner. It will be interesting to see that battle go down there and, at least, two more times (the State Open championship) and they may see each other at New England’s as well,” Welch said.
Menounos is coming off a first-place finish in his last dual meet of the season when the Centaurs lost to NFA, 27-30, at Mohegan Park.
He also placed second the weekend before in the Bay State Invitational in Devens, Mass.
“We’re looking at peaking late. We haven’t started to do speed work with him. He’s done hills. He’s done threshold stuff. We’re just breaking into speed now. I anticipate seeing a drop in times from him over the next several weeks,” Welch said.
As far as the team competition, the East Lyme Vikings are the team to beat.
“They are phenomenal this year. Even at the State Open level, they will compete with Hall (West Hartford) and Ridgefield may be a bit stronger than them but not much else. They are one of the best in the State and New England this year,” Welch said.
That leaves the other teams fighting for second.
“The next three spots are pretty much up in the air but I think we have a shot at second. I would love to see us there. That’s the goal but we would settle for top four,” Welch said.
The Centaurs coach was happy with Menounos and Colton Sallum who finished 1-2 in their final dual meet of the season against the Wildcats.
“That part went to plan which was great. Colton ran a really strong race there. He’s dropping time as compared to Ocean State,” Welch said. “We were hoping to break up their pack and if we had been at the top of our game, we would have had the meet so it was tough to see it slip away but we put up a good fight. The effort was there.”
Seniors Charlie Caggiano and Joel Koleszar finished seventh and eighth for the Centaurs who ended the dual season with a 5-2 overall record and 1-2 mark in ECC Division I.
Girls’ Cross-Country
The girls’ cross-country team finished up its regular season Tuesday with a 20-39 loss to NFA.
The Centaurs finished with a 4-3 dual meet record and were 1-2 in Div. I of the ECC.
“Over the summer, I didn’t even know if we were going to have a team,” said coach Joe Banas. “So, I’m going to take it on the positive side. It’s hard to win with just three returners and now we’re down to two. The new runners are improving but there is only so much you can do.”
The Centaurs did have senior Julia Coyle come home in third place in the meet against NFA. Sophomore Olivia Tracy was fifth. But the Centaurs third runner, Kira Greene, was out with an illness.
That meant NFA was able to displace the Centaurs third and fourth runners.
“I’m a student of the game and I’ve been watching and getting the updates. I know this girl (NFA’s top runner Karina Chen) just keeps on getting faster and faster. Their second runner (Helen Muench) has been improving, too, so they have a very legitimate 1-2 punch,” Banas said.
Now, the Centaurs have a short period of time to prep for the ECC Championship meet at the Norwich Golf Course on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Who is the team to beat? In Banas’ mind, it is not the ECC Div. I champion, East Lyme.
“I like the Ledyard team. They have all seven runners back. They actually have a better 1-2 than East Lyme so unless there is an illness or injury that I don’t know about, for the first time in seven years, I’m thinking Ledyard is the favorite,” Banas said.
Volleyball
Gronski reaches career milestone
It’s one of those numbers that kind of sneak up on athletes and players alike.
Junior Sophie Gronski recorded her 1,000th career assist for the Woodstock volleyball team Tuesday in a 3-1 win over Fitch.
One of the reasons why the milestone snuck up on everyone was that Gronski did not produce big numbers as a freshman.
She finished with only 90 assists playing behind and, sometimes, with Annarose Avery. But she came on strong as a sophomore and finished with 612 helps.
She already has amassed 381 assists this season.
“I’m happy for her,” said coach Adam Bottone. “She’s very deserving of it and she still has a long way to go before she is done. I’m glad she was able to get there and I look forward to a lot more good things from her in the future.”
Gronski finished with 35 assists in the 25-17, 25-13, 21-25, 25-16 win over the Falcons.
Mia Sorrentino added 12 kills from the middle against Fitch with fellow middle hitter Reegan Reynolds ending with eight and Izzy Mojica contributed seven from the outside.
That and a 3-0 win over Coventry the day before was the good news for the Centaurs as it completed a 10-match win streak.
Unfortunately, East Lyme didn’t seem to care about the Centaurs’ hot hand.
The Vikings (12-2) climbed into a first-place tie with Woodstock (11-4) in Div. I of the ECC and ended the Centaurs win streak with a 3-0 victory Thursday.
Both teams are 4-1 in the Division.
“I think it’s OK, maybe it’s an eye-opener for the girls,” Adam Bottone said. “You may think you are putting in enough work, but really, you need to put in a little more. I hope we get something from it. As coaches, we’re definitely going to evaluate what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and what adjustments we need to make to help the team become more productive.”
The difference on Thursday was predictable. Senior Libero Skylar Bell was a handful.
Bell, who suffered an injury in the team’s first meeting of the season at Woodstock, was healthy this time.
“When Skylar was serving, she went on a run pretty much every time. That really put us on our heels literally and figuratively. When she wasn’t, we did better against the other servers. But we need to be more disciplined to put us in a better place to be more productive offensively,” Adam Bottone said.
Those service runs helped the Vikings sweep the three sets, 25-17, 25-22 and 25-23.
“She’s the best player on that (East Lyme) team and we’ve known that. They were confident, came out ready to play and I thought we were in a good place but they wanted it a little more than we did,” Adam Bottone said.
Vivian Bibeau paced the Centaurs with eight kills while Liliana Bottone added seven.
Gronski had 23 assists and Cassidy Ladd tossed in 17 digs.
The Centaurs have two more weeks of the regular season left prior to the start of the ECC postseason tournament.
“Receive,” Adam Bottone said when asked what the team will be working on most over those final two weeks. “Receive, mental toughness and get into the mindset of doing whatever it takes to win, having that confidence. It’s a big part of it. Skill-wise, with the exception of receiving, I’m happy with what we’re doing. We have the hitters. It’s that killer mindset of going out there, owning it and getting it done.”
Field Hockey
The defense has been resilient. But the offense has not been able to put the ball into the net often.
That has been the story for the field hockey team this season and it continued to be the case this past week.
In two of the three games the Centaurs played, they yielded only one goal.
Unfortunately, they could not come up with a win as they finished in a scoreless tie with NFA early in the week and lost to Valley Regional on Saturday, 1-0.
Woodstock also played host to Wethersfield in the middle of the week but the Eagles just had too much offense and handed the Centaurs a 5-1 loss.
Woodstock is now 2-9-1 on the season.
The Centaurs did get strong performances in goal against the Warriors on Saturday. Elizabeth Roberts made four saves in the first half and Madison LaVallee added five in the second.
The Centaurs also took 16 shots against Valley Regional, but none found the back of the cage.
Woodstock’s persistence paid off in the second half earlier in the week as it did push the ball into the cage against Wethersfield.
Mikayla Bessette recorded her second goal of the season for the Centaurs off an assist from Georgia Lukachie with 8 minutes, 13 seconds to play.
“It was really nice especially since Georgia got the assist and it was her birthday. That was a boost for her,” said coach Sam Mowry.
The Eagles (7-3) struck early as Mallory Mori scored just 90 seconds into the match.
But the quick goal was all Wethersfield could muster in the first quarter as the Centaurs defense stiffened.
Sadie Ruiz, however, would finish with a trio of goals as she scored twice in the second quarter and added another in the third.
The Centaurs had a pair of nice opportunities for Abby Converse, including a shot she took off a corner that hit the crossbar.
“I liked the situations we were getting off the corners. We were setting up some beautiful opportunities, but we just couldn’t capitalize. They were beautiful shots,” Mowry said.
Despite the frustration of not seeing the ball go into the net, Mowry is starting to like what she is beginning to see,
“We’re finally realizing that what we do in practice will help us in games. It’s nice to see that translation happening,” Mowry said.
Football
Teams generally are most vulnerable to being scored on once they have scored. It can flip the momentum of a game. And a late turnover, can shift that ‘Mo’  even more.
Such was the case for the football team in a 21-15 loss to non-league foe, Foran.
Centaurs quarterback Teddy Richardson (7-for-20 passing, 95 yards) stepped up in pocket and just before taking off to run, saw senior receiver Lucas Theriaque break away from the Foran defense down the right sideline.
Richardson hit Theriaque (2 catches, 56 yards) in stride to put Woodstock up, 15-6.
But the Lions (3-3) weren’t about to pack it in on their home field.
Junior quarterback Joe Gagliardi went to the air, hitting five of his next six passes including a 41-yard strike to senior running back Gabe Bonessi.
That passing attack overcame a 10-yard sack by Centaur linebacker Zach Majewski and got the Lions down to the Woodstock 12.
The Lions went back to their workhorse Bonessi (31 carries, 128 yards) who went 11 yards and then dived in from the 1-yard line to cut the deficit to two with 9 minutes, 19 seconds to play.
The Centaurs went 12 yards on their first play from scrimmage following Foran’s kickoff but, unfortunately, the ball was popped loose and the Lions recovered on their own 48-yard line.
This time, Foran attacked on the ground and ran on eight of the nine plays that it took them to get to the end zone with Bonessi crossing the goal line from two yards away for what proved to be the game-winning score.
The Centaurs (2-3) had started on a good note.
Sophomore linebacker Dylan Phillips made the first of his two interceptions on the night that gave Woodstock the ball on the Foran 43.
The Centaurs used the run to move the ball downfield with Richardson (13 carries, 54 yards) scoring from seven yards out to make it 6-0 just 2:48 into the game.
Woodstock added two points in the second quarter when Majewski tackled Gagliardi in the end zone for a safety.
But the Lions pulled within two when Bonessi put them on the scoreboard with a 1-yard touchdown dive on their first series of the second half.
Woodstock returns home for an ECC Div. I game against New London Saturday at noon at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Boys’ Soccer
The games came fast and furious for the boys’ soccer team last week.
Three matches in five days made things a bit difficult on the Centaurs.
The Centaurs finished off on Saturday and saw their record slip to 2-9-1 with an 8-2 loss to Stonington.
The Bears scored four unanswered goals in the first half and then added three more to start the second before Woodstock  could answer.
Austin Byer tallied off a Matt Johndrow assist and that was followed by a Johndrow goal off an Aiden Sanchez assist.
The Centaurs were much more competitive against NFA two days before.
Johndrow cut a 2-0 Wildcat lead in half when he scored off an Byer assist with just under 12 minutes to play.
NFA went up 3-1 but Trevor Gold answered with a goal to pull the Centaurs back within one.
The Wildcats put away the win with two goals within 10 seconds of one another late in the contest.
Woodstock opened the week against undefeated Ledyard with similar results.
The Centaurs could not cool off the red-hot Colonels on the Woodstock home pitch earlier in the week as Ledyard posted a 4-1 win.
It was the ninth straight win for the Colonels who would add their 10th straight against New London before losing their first to East Lyme on Saturday.,
Garrett Bushey scored his first goal of the season late in the first half for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

Grace Pokorny: Woodstock Academy junior Grace Pokorny (12) battles Wethersfield’s Maya Fanelli at midfield in the Centaurs field hockey game with the Eagles at the Bentley Athletic Complex.

Sophie Gronski: Woodstock Academy volleyball junior setter Sophie Gronski reached a personal milestone this past week by recording her 1000th career assist. Woodstock Academy photo.

Avery Crescimanno: Battling for the ball, Woodstock Academy sophomore field hockey player Avery Crescimanno (2) tries to work her way around a Wethersfield player at the Bentley Athletic Complex.

Corrine LaMontagne: Senior defensive player Corinne LaMontagne (behind) of Woodstock Academy manages to poke the ball away from a Wethersfield offensive player in a field hockey contest last week at the Bentley Athletic Complex. Photos by Marc Allard

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