caption, page 12:
Practice
Woodstock Academy senior goalie Rachel Holden fields a ball in practice recently. Photo by Marc Allard.
There is a new focus for the Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer team.
“We always get held up in the first round of the state tournament,” said senior captain Linda St. Laurent. “Coach (Dennis Snelling) feels that we are losing interest at the end of the year so it’s time to make it more of a goal for the whole season. I think with these girls, it’s going to be such a fun season and we’re going to want to peak at the end.”
The Centaurs have won the last two ECC championship matches.
Last fall, the Centaurs edged past Plainfield, 1-0, in a pretty memorable match.
But that high doesn’t seem to carry over to the state tournament.
After getting a first round bye in the Class L state tournament, the Centaurs were upset at home by Daniel Hand.
It continued a string of defeats in the state tournament where the Centaurs have not won a match since 2013.
“It’s tough because you go from the highest level and you feel like you’re starting at the bottom again and you will be fine. States is a whole new thing. You’re playing stronger teams in States and we underestimate that a little bit,” St. Laurent said.
Woodstock Academy finished 16-2-2 last season.
But there will be some notable absences this year.
Gone is leading scorer Ivy Gelhaus (19 goals, 5 assists); goalie Irene Askitis, midfielder Ashleigh Angle (6 goals, 2 assists); center back Heather Converse (who scored the game winning goal in the ECC championship); forward Aislin Tracey (2 goals, 3 assists); midfielder Regan Stuyniski and forward Isabel Cintron.
Coach Dennis Snelling, entering his eighth season at the helm, is not concerned.
“We return 12 kids that had a big role, are successful and very strong and worked really hard all summer. I’m not too worried,” Snelling said.
The girls benefitted from the offseason conditioning program offered at The Academy. About 10- to-15 of the girls came together on Sundays to run together during the summer while about a dozen worked out in the weight room with strength and conditioning coach Brendan Ostaszewski.
“The younger kids get to know the older kids, get to see the work ethic. It’s more important than the actual skill level, to be able to get along. If they don’t get along, it’s not going to be good. It’s not going to be fun,” Snelling said.
The Centaurs return with junior Peyton Saracina (6 goals last year) at forward along with sophomore Ava Couture and, yes, there is another Gelhaus as freshman Grace Gelhaus will see time on varsity up front. Another newcomer to varsity will be junior Sophia Mawson.
Midfield will be talented and will be represented by a number of classes.
Seniors Kayla Gaudreau (2 goals, 7 assists) and Emma Redfield (1 goal, 3 assists) will be joined by juniors Lucy McDermott and Gillian Price (2 goals, 1 assist) and sophomore Adeline Smith (3 goals).
The Centaurs scored 48 goals last season.
Snelling wouldn’t mind to see a few more go in the net.
St. Laurent thinks that will happen.
“We already have the offense,” St. Laurent said. “Peyton and Grace are working so well together already and a bunch of subs who are also working well there. The outside midfielders are doing a good job of getting the ball into them.”
The defense was more than solid last season.
It allowed only six goals all season until the 4-1 loss to the Tigers in the state tournament.
St. Laurent will be one of the keys to that effort, playing a center back role in the midfield.
“The back is going to be so solid and the midfield is going to hold the ball really well. Altogether, I think we’re doing a very good job of defending every aspect of the field which will help us a lot,” St. Laurent said.
Snelling doesn’t want to lose his senior captain’s influence on the offense which is why he wants to see her in the midfield as well as helping in the back.
Converse is gone, but junior Brynn Kusnarowis – who owns a big foot and scored a pair of long-distance goals last season – will be one of the anchors along with another senior captain, Hallie Saracina, who could also play some midfield.
Other players in the back include junior Caroline Wilcox and several newcomers including juniors Sydney Couture and Ciara Mackinnon, sophomore Stella Brinn and freshman Lennon Favreau.
Rachel Holden takes over for Askitis in the net, she will be backed up by freshman Fiona Rigney.
Gaudreau and Redfield will be the other captains on the team which has gelled pretty well in the preseason.
“Our chemistry is just so strong,” St. Laurent said. “Our captains have all played on varsity for all four years. The freshmen are already so involved and we all feel like a part of the team.”
The team will need the togetherness.
There will be a target on the backs of the Centaurs throughout the ECC season due to the pair of successes the team has enjoyed.
“It’s just kind of an extra thing that we can use in practice to say, ‘These teams are going to come out and have their best game against us because they know they have to’. They may see the list of graduates we have and the target becomes bigger and it’s easier to hit because we had seven starters graduate and there is no way we can bounce back from that. If teams are strong, they had better beat us this year,” Snelling said. “Every year, the goal is to leave (the program) better than when you come in and no matter who leaves, there is still a strong foundation and each class kind of leaves its own legacy.”
The Centaurs open the season against the team they beat in the ECC championship.
Woodstock Academy travels to Plainfield, which played for a Class M state title last season, in a 4 p.m. game Sept. 12.
Girls’ soccer schedule:
Thurs., Sept. 12: at Plainfield 4 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 14: vs. Valley Regional 11 a.m.
Mon., Sept. 16: vs. Waterford 4:15 p.m.
Thurs., Sept. 19: vs. Fitch 3:45 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 21: vs. Burrillville 4 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 23: at East Lyme 6 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 25: vs. NFA 3:45 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 2: vs. Stonington 4 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 4: at Killingly 4 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 7: at Fitch 4:15 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 12: at St. Paul Catholic 1 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 16: vs. East Lyme 3:45 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 19: at Auburn 1 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 22: at NFA 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 25: at Bacon Academy 4 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 29: vs. Plainfield 3:45 p.m.
Marc Allard,
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..
..
Woodstock Academy coach Joe Banas received a phone call from Linsey Arends’ mother on Friday night.
She wanted to make sure that there would be maps that Linsey could look at prior to running the 41st annual Haddad Windham cross-country Invitational at Windham High Sept. 7.
It was on the same course, just a year ago, that Arends ran her first high school race as a freshman and made a wrong turn.
“I guaranteed her that there will be no way, no how, that she will get lost. I just wanted to make sure that Linsey could sleep because she would have worried especially since it already happened to her,” Banas said.
Arends crossed the finish line in second place in the Varsity 2 race just about a minute behind Kathryn Rodrigues of Wolcott. She also accomplished another goal by breaking the 20-minute mark; she finished in 19 minutes, 56 seconds.
Her time will be adjusted by her coaches, however, since it was only a 3-mile race.
Arends grew a couple of inches over the summer and now stands 5-foot-1. “I have a little longer stride which always helps. I’m still growing so we will see,” Arends said. Her second- place finish was complemented by a fifth-place finish by junior teammate Stella DiPippo.
The two finishes helped the Centaurs place fourth overall as a team behind E.O. Smith, Thomaston and Avon.
DiPippo finished fifth in 20:39 and said the Invitational is just a good chance to get the rust off. Megan Gohn (22:52) finished 29th; Iris Bazinet (24:12) 52nd and Julia Theriaque (24:26) 60th to round out the scoring five.
DiPippo said: “I’m definitely not where I want to be,” she admitted. “I was hoping to finish a lot faster but I had a really bad cramp and when I get that, it affects my breathing. This race did not go too well. I don’t know what I did wrong. I did like what I usually do but we will keep working.”
On the boys’ side of the Haddad Windham cross-country Invitational, a little strategy benefitted Ethan Aspiras.
The Woodstock Academy junior looked like he was mired in the middle of the pack early in the race, but it was all part of a plan that he executed pretty well. He crossed the finish line in sixth place.
“I’m very happy with Ethan. He set goals for himself and I think he’s going to achieve them. This was the first step in the whole thing,” said Woodstock Academy boys’ cross-country coach Peter Lusa.
The Centaurs coaching staff has been working on its runner’s mentality a bit when it comes to running hills.
About a mile into the race, there exists a 600-meter hill. Aspiras learned from last year when the hill killed his effort.
He conserved his energy, holding back and running in a pack back around the 40-50th place group.
“I knew that not all these people are going to be running up this hill at a 5:30 pace. I purposely slowed down and it was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done in a race. I passed probably 20-plus runners on just one hill. That’s a record for me,” Aspiras said. He finished in 17:23.
Not only was he happy with his effort on the hill, the time was pretty noteworthy as well.
The Centaurs boys’ coach would have liked to see the gap between Aspiras and the Centaurs second-best finisher, Hamilton Barnes, be a little smaller. Barnes finished in 62nd place, just about two minutes behind Aspiras.. A little further back in 80th and 81st places were two of the team captains, Evan Gianfriddo and Tristan Monahan. Hans Rhynhart finished out the scoring five for the Centaurs in 88th place.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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Legal Notice
Town of Pomfret
Inland Wetlands
and
Watercourses
Commission
At the September 4, 2019, meeting the following application was acted upon:
1. Alan Bundy, 203 Orchard Hill Road — Application to build a 26’x30’ barn/garage with a 12’x26’ open lean-to; construct a 22’x40’ pool directly behind existing house. APPROVED with condition(s).
Town of Pomfret
Inland Wetlands
and Watercourses
Commission
Dated this 9th day
of September 2019
Lynn L. Krajewski,
Clerk
Sept. 11, 2019
.
captions:
Soccer Team
Left: Karolym Souza. Above. Coach Jen Bennett. Steve Nalbandian photos.
Jen Bennett was interested in coaching the girls’ soccer team at Putnam Science Academy before there was even an opening for the position. Actually, she was interested before there was even the position of girls’ soccer coach, never mind an opening, as the Mustangs have never had a team before this year.
And Bennet knew full-well what it meant, to start the program from the ground up. She was told very early on about the tremendous success the boys’ soccer team had last year in its first season, rising to No. 8 in the national rankings. She knows there are expectations. But she took the job anyway.
“Oh my God, yes, I think there’s pressure,” the 34-year-old Thompson native said after Wednesday’s initial practice. “I’m fine with it. I’m putting pressure on myself. Because we are the first team here, my expectations are going to be high.”
Bennett made it a point to stress these things at the team’s first meeting on Sept. 3.
But the message may have fallen a little flat.
“I don’t necessarily know if they all knew what I was saying,” Bennett said, noting the language barrier between her and most of her players, who, with one exception, are all international students at the school. She has a couple of players who can translate for her as well, but at the team’s first practice Wednesday, it was more of the same.
“The language barrier is something that’s difficult,” she said. “So hand gestures and showing them what I actually mean and want them to do is something I’m going to have to do a lot more of. We’re working through it and we’ll keep working through it. We’ll figure it out.”
Tais Mota, a junior from Brazil in her first year at PSA, is one of those who will be counted on to fill in the communication gap. She got Bennet’s message loud and clear.
“We’re the first team,” Mota said. “That’s important. We have to get together and put everything that we have into this. I think we had a good first practice. We still have to do a lot to get fit and do whatever we can do to do our best. And it’s really challenging, people from different countries playing together for the first time. But we’ll get used to it.”
“We have people who can play. Our only problem right now is the numbers.”
Ah yes, the numbers. Another obstacle to overcome.
“I thought I was going to have 13 (players),” Bennet said. “I assumed I’d have a goalie. Right now, I only have eight (players), and I don’t have a goalie. I know they’re working on that and we are expecting people to be coming in. My goal for them, assuming we fill in those gaps, is to be a winning team. We have the talent, so if I can find the bodies, we’ll be all right and we can do that.
“It’s not discouraging. It’s not. Not as long as I can push them. If I can push the core…we have a solid core group, which gives me hope. I’ve got talent on this roster, which is a nice place to start. You can see the talent. And most of them have great attitudes and are coachable.
“I have to keep them…wanting to play and seeing a reason to bust their butts for me. If I can get the rest of them to come together as a team, whether we have 11 or 30, we’ll be fine.”
Steve Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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