It was a nice little break for the Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team.
The postponement of a match with Stonington last week meant the Centaurs had only one game all week.
They responded well with a 5-1 win over Killingly Oct. 4.
“We needed the rest because it felt like we had seven games right away and never had time to practice or discuss much, it was just go and play these games. To have eight days off really helped us kind of decide what we want to do from here for the rest of the season,” said Woodstock Academy coach Dennis Snelling.
The Centaurs struck early against a good Redgals (5-2-1) team. Just seven minutes into the contest, Peyton Saracina headed in a corner from Grace Gelhaus to give Woodstock Academy the early lead.
Just a little over 10 minutes later, Emma Redfield found an open Gelhaus, got the freshman the ball and she put it in for the 2-0 lead.
That was how it remained for the rest of the first half.
But it quickly changed at the beginning of the second half.
Caroline Wilcox sent a header forward to Gelhaus who delivered again, from 25 yards out, just 28 seconds into the second half.
It was the 10th goal of the season for Gelhaus. She also added a second assist in the match.
Abbie Burgess did counter for Killingly off a direct kick but the Centaurs regained a three-goal advantage when senior Linda St. Laurent, with an assist from classmate Hallie Saracina, scored just three minutes later.
Saracina capped the scoring with her 10th goal of the year off a Gelhaus assist with just 15 minutes to play.
“It was important for everyone that we played well on the road. It was a good win against a quality opponent,” Snelling said.
The win raised Woodstock Academy’s record to 6-2, a tie away from qualifying for the Class L state tournament.
“If you told me at the beginning that at the halfway mark, we would be 6-2, I would have been very happy. We just want to continue to get better. We need to continue to get more confident, stronger. We’re still missing a lot of chances even though we’re scoring quite a few goals,” Snelling said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..
Quiet week
at PSA
sees one win
in soccer
It was a relatively quiet week on the fields at Putnam Science Academy, with only three soccer games on the schedule.
The boys’ prep team won its only game of the week, improving to 5-1 with a 3-0 win over U19 FC Barcelona Academy (N.Y.). The Mustangs got goals from Felipe Santos, Gabriele Formiconi, and Jesus Barea.
PSA’s boys’ varsity team did not fare as well, losing a pair of games last week, falling 4-2 on Oct. 4 and 3-2 two days later.
In the first match, Matus Vician and Javier Gil scored the two goals. Coach Ivan Damulira said he liked what he saw from his team moving forward in transition opportunities, but they just did not put enough pressure on goal when they had their chances. On Oct. 6, Vician scored again, and Luca Almeida added one of his own but it wasn’t enough as PSA lost to FC Barcelona Academy (N.Y.) U17 team.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
.
POMFRET — The team result might not appear great, but the story behind the number tells a different tale. Hosted by Suffield Academy, the race also featured Avon Old Farms, Worcester Academy, and Canterbury — the latter two being divisional foes. Though the Pomfret School cross country team was beaten by Canterbury, the Griffins WA, a team that had beaten them pretty handily not two weeks ago at Marianapolis. Being able to turn the tide on WA is a good indicator that, now mid-season, the team is starting to round into shape.
At the start of the 75-person race, Jeffrey Gibbs ’20 had the heel of his shoe stepped on, causing it to come off. Gibbs had to take a few seconds to get the shoe back on, and with a rush of adrenaline, he moved steadily back into the front pack within the first half mile. Blake Zahansky ’21, buoyed by some good practice and his most recent race, ran the first mile confidently and just a few seconds behind Jeffrey. Cam Adams ’21, hung back in the back of the front pack, biding his time before making what has become his signature effort of moving up steadily throughout the race. Kellen Horst ’22 and Cole Hecker ’22 both had exceptionally strong efforts. When asked, Kellen had no explanation other than, “I just felt good.” That’s sometimes how it works. Perhaps Cole’s strong performance had something to do with his dad being in attendance? Cooper Ames ’22 ran his best race of the season, and Jacob Marasco ’22, back from injury reserve, slotted right back into a top 7 finish for the team.
Team Scores: AOF - 45; Suffield - 50; Canterbury - 54; Pomfret:- 97; Worcester:-109
Due to a timing error, we do not have official times. Unofficial time keeping shows that nearly all runners ran their season, if not their personal, bests. Among JV runners on the day, Jack Terwillger ’20, Ian Wolanin ’22, Alex Chen ’22, Kevin Li ’20, and Danny Wang ’21 all ran well. David Wu ’22, the lone brave freshman Bill Tian ’23, rookie sophomore Terry Kim ’22, and Ben Gordon ’22 also had fine races. Finally, Jay Kim ’21, battling illness, still managed to crush his personal best time by well over a minute.
By David Ring
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caption:
Digging In
The Woodstock Academy defense digs in against Plainfield Oct. 5. Photo by Joel Tretheway/The Woodstock Academy.
The Woodstock Academy football team was, at times, its own worst enemy Oct. 5.
“We had too many unforced errors,” said Centaurs coach Sean Saucier. “There is a line between being intense and tough and going too far. I don’t know why, I can’t explain it right now, but we were just not disciplined enough.”
That lack of discipline on the field resulted in numerous penalty flags against the Centaurs.
Plainfield took advantage and scored a 30-19 win over Woodstock Academy. It was the first loss of the season for the Centaurs who dropped to 3-1.
The flags started early and didn’t stop. Woodstock Academy was penalized 10 times for 135 yards.
Following the Centaurs first carry on their first possession of the game, a 15-yard personal foul put the Centaurs in a big hole and forced a quick three-and-out.
The Panthers (3-1) got the ball for a first time on the Woodstock Academy 46-yard line and did something a little out of character.
Operating out of their conservative double-wing offense, the Panthers went for a quick strike.
Quarterback Liam Smith went up top and found receiver Khalil Easton for a 38-yard pass to the Centaurs 8-yard line.
Three plays later, running back Lucien Dube carried the ball in from 7 yards out on a counter play to give Plainfield a 7-0 lead.
The Centaurs answered immediately. A 21-yard run by quarterback Ethan Davis gave the Centaurs some breathing room near midfield. One play later, Davis found Nick Bedard open over the middle for a 15-yard gain and running back Ian Welz (21 carries, 67 yards) followed with his longest run of the day, a 34-yard carry to the Plainfield 6.
One play later, Davis scored from 4 yards out to tie the game.
But the first quarter fireworks had truly just begun.
On the ensuing kickoff, Dube picked up a squib kick on the 35-yard line, went from the left hash to the right sideline and found daylight for a 65-yard score to put the Panthers back on top, 15-7.
The Centaurs were more methodical. It took them five plays to answer.
Another personal foul backed up Woodstock Academy to its own 19, but it got some help from the Panthers who were flagged for a helmet-to-helmet incident to move the ball back out to the Centaurs’ 34.
A pass play went in reverse for the Centaurs, backing them up to the 30.
Davis rolled out to his left on the next play and the lefthander looked down the sideline and saw Bedard (7 catches, 135 yards) open. He hit his receiver in stride and Plainfield didn’t stop the senior until he got to the 1-yard line. Davis (12 carries, 59 yards) snuck in from there.
It left the Centaurs down only two, 15-13 — for about 20 seconds.
Easton fielded the kickoff at the Plainfield 17, ran up the left sideline, spun and almost fell at midfield, but regained his balance, charged across the field and found his way to the right sideline for an 83-yard touchdown return.
“It’s a tough way to give up 14 points,” Saucier said. “We have to look at it but they had some great returners. Both kids are pretty speedy. You have them pinned and they’re fast enough to make the corner.”
The Panthers were up 22-13 and there was still 3:48 left in the first quarter.
But suddenly the momentum on both sides stopped. Plainfield, according to coach Pat Smith, never truly found its offensive rhythm. And penalties were numerous on both sides.
Woodstock Academy was forced to punt twice and gave back the ball on an interception, the first of two by Easton, on its next three possessions.
But the Centaurs did have a chance at the end of the half. Luis Miranda picked up a Panther fumble at the Woodstock Academy 43 and returned it to Plainfield’s 29. An unnecessary roughness call against the Panthers moved it to the Plainfield 16 with 1:04 left in the half.
The Centaurs tried five rushing plays, but ran out of time with the ball resting on the 1-yard line after Welz was stopped short of the goal line.
Plainfield added an insurance score at the start of the fourth quarter when Liam Smith again went up top, this time, finding Elijah Brady for a score from 24-yards out.
The Centaurs put the final tally on the board when Davis (16-for-28, 193 yards passing) found Aidan Morin in the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard score with eight seconds left.
“It’s not about hanging in anymore,” Saucier said. “We gave away a football game. (Plainfield is) a good team. They earned it. We did hang in there, but that’s not good enough.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..