Football can be a frustrating sport.
Take the Woodstock Academy Centaurs this season.
When they have come off the field in each of their last two games, they have been dominant on the stat sheet.
Unfortunately, that has not been reflected on the scoreboard.
The Centaurs fell to 1-3 Sept. 28 in Ludlow, Mass., losing to the Lions 13-6, despite finishing with over double the amount of offense than their hosts.
The problem for the Centaurs is two-fold.
They have troubles finishing in the red zone and they have problems keeping possession of the football; two fumbles and two interceptions helped ruin their evening.
“Unfortunately, we have to figure that out.” said coach Sean Saucier. “We have to keep working on ball security, not turn the ball over and give opponents extra possessions.”
The Centaurs were driving on their first possession of the game and were at the Ludlow 19-yard line when the ball was jarred loose and recovered by the Lions
The third possession ended in an interception by Ludlow safety Jeremy Garcia.
The Centaurs drove to the Lions 22-yard line on their first possession of the second quarter, but gave the ball over on downs.
After forcing Ludlow to punt for a third time, quarterback Derek Thompson (15-for-27, 134 yards) threw the ball into the end zone for Caleb Feen but the ball was picked by Jake Manewich.
The Centaurs outgained the Lions 134-96 in the half.
But were trailing on the scoreboard, 6-0.
Their only defensive faux pas of the half was allowing Jamonte Beckett to get around the corner on a sweep to the left side with 54 seconds left in the first quarter. A missed tackle opportunity in the secondary allowed Beckett to go 48 yards for the score.
The Centaurs had two chances to tie the game in the third quarter.
Their first possession saw the Centaurs run the ball down the field thanks to the legs of sophomore Gavin Savoie and Jaden Dennett, but the drive stalled at the Ludlow 31-yard line.
Savoie played a key role both on offense where he rushed 14 times for 95 yards and on defense.
“He’s a warrior. I love that kid. He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I’m proud of him,” Saucier said.
After another Ludlow punt, the Centaurs found a counter play that ate up some yardage, Dennett (12 carries, 37 yards) getting 26 yards in three carries, but a fumble ended their hopes at the Ludlow 38-yard line.
The Centaurs forced Ludlow to punt the football again which was the story of the night for the Lions who had only 144 total yards.
Outside of their two touchdowns, their other eight possessions all ended in them kicking the ball away.
But Woodstock Academy had to go for it on a 4th-and-5 at their own 31-yard line. Dennett looked like he had got over the 35-yard line and was close to the 36 on his carry, but the officials placed the ball back near the 31.
A stunned Centaurs team hadn’t even regrouped when Garcia (20 carries, 91 yards) burst through the middle to daylight for a 31-yard score and the 13-0 lead.
The Centaurs did answer when Thompson completed four straight passes including a hook-and-ladder with Feen (8 catches, 65 yards) and a his longest connection of the night, a 28-yarder to Nick Bedard that got the Centaurs to the Ludlow 2-yard line. Dennett carried it in for the score on the next play with 3:40 left.
The Centaurs had two more possessions, but never got further than the Ludlow 43.
They finished with 314 yards on the night.
“We have to stop putting ourselves in these positions. Similar to Week 1, we dig a hole and try to get out of it at the end. We have to stop doing that,” Saucier said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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caption:
Free Kick
Cole Hackett (10) stretches out his leg on a free kick for Woodstock Academy Sept. 29. Photo by Marc Allard.
The Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer team continues to hover around the break-even mark for the season.
The Centaurs went 1-1 against Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I opponents last week to raise their overall mark to 4-4-1.They also picked up a win over Waterford which raised their record to 3-1 in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
One-goal decisions were the theme of the week as all three matches came down to a single tally.
The Centaurs celebrated Homecoming Sept. 29 with a hard fought, 2-1, overtime victory over Norwich Free Academy at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Ethan Holcomb scored off a pass from Matt LaBounty with four minutes left in overtime to lift the Centaurs to the win.
“It was a cool finish,” Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden said of the game-winning goal. “The boys finished strong after a rocky period where NFA really tested our desire and confidence.”
Woodstock Academy took the lead early on an Eric Phongsa tally just 4 minutes, 3 seconds into the match.
Phongsa sent one in from 25 yards out that found the back of the net.
But it would be all the scoring in regulation for the Centaurs.
The Wildcats (2-6) tied it up with 3:12 left in the first half on a Micah Spruance goal.
The Wildcats had the better of the play in the second half, doubling the number of shots that the Centaurs took, but were robbed of a couple of opportunities by Centaurs keeper Isidro de Icaza.
“It was great to see the boys ride the storm, take the momentum and find a way to win,” Rearden said.
Against East Lyme, Alejandro Quintas Gonzalez broke a scoreless tie with a goal 10 minutes into the second half.
But sometimes a team is most prone to be scored upon shortly after it scores.
That was the case Sept. 26.
The Vikings tied the game 1 minute after Gonzalez’s goal and added another with eight minutes left to post the 2-1 victory on their home field.
The Centaurs had their chances in the first half.
Jack Butler hit the post just 10 minutes into the match.
Huck Gelhaus, Sean Rearden, Gonzalez, and Aaron Johnson also had decent scoring chances but nothing found its way through until the Gonzalez tally in the second half.
Gonzalez’s goal came off a free kick where he curled the ball into the upper-right corner.
The equalizer came when Kurt Mahlke took a cross from Alec Kosinski and put it past Centaurs’ keeper Jack Lotter just about a minute after the Gonzalez goal.
The Vikings had to wait for the game-winner until under 10 minutes remained when Cooper Pazzaglia cut the ball back from the left side of the penalty area and found an open Kosinski.
The week started the way it ended, with a closely-contested match in Waterford.
Reid Butler had the only tally of the match for Woodstock Academy as the Centaurs posted the 1-0 victory over the Lancers.
Butler fired a left-footed shot from just inside the penalty area with eight seconds left that eluded Lancers’ keeper Esteban Reyes and gave the Centaurs the victory.
The goal came off a pretty back flick from Gonzalez.
Reyes made seven saves for Waterford including one which impressed Rearden.
“He had a tremendous one-handed save on a tremendous strike from Ethan Holcomb and then, a couple of minutes later, on another nice shot by Chase Anderson. (Reyes) was beginning to look unbeatable,” the Woodstock Academy coach said.
The weather did play a role in the game.
“The windy conditions made the game look a little untidy at times, but the boys held firm and for the second consecutive game, didn’t make any mistakes,” Rearden said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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caption:
Battling
Woodstock Academy’s Eliza Dutson (24) battles a Stonington offensive player for the ball just to the left of the Centaurs’ cage Sept. 29. Photo by Marc Allard.
The goal for The Woodstock Academy field hockey team was to beat Stonington for a first time in the sport.
The Centaurs kept it close, but fell just short to the Bears, 4-2, Sept. 29 on the turf field on the South Campus of the Academy.
That was just one of the reasons why the Centaurs wanted to win pretty badly.
“I tried to give them some motivation because we also had some alumni coming to watch and I wanted them to do it for (the injured) Syd (Cournoyer) on the sidelines. We just couldn’t pull it out,” said Centaurs coach Lauren Gagnon.
It meant the Centaurs were 0-2 for the week.
They also lost to Waterford Sept. 27, 4-3 and are now 2-4 on the season and 2-3 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Centaurs struggled early against the Bears (5-0-1) who took 10 shots on goalie Rachel Roberts while Woodstock Academy took only one long distance attempt at the Stonington cage.
“We’re definitely a second half team and we’ve talked about that,” Gagnon said. “We’ve talked about the fact that they need to get their butts in gear to begin with. Why do we have to be down in order to score?” Gagnon said.
But the Centaurs did find themselves in a first half hole.
Roberts made saves on six of the shots that were flung at her, but two snuck past.
Miranda Arruda and Casey Boumenot put together a nice give-and-go inside the scoring box. Arruda passed to her right to Boumenot and then continued on to the cage with Boumenot giving it back for the Arruda goal with 6 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first half.
Roberts was on her own with 13 seconds to play in the half as Arruda and Boumenot had a 2-on-1 break.
Arruda this time took the shot, it bounced off the post and right on to the stick of Boumenot who re-directed it home.
Despite the two goals, the Centaurs did put on a fine defensive performance in the half. Gagnon thought it was the longest stretch, in her coaching tenure, that the Centaurs kept the Bears off the scoreboard.
That happened despite the fact that Gagnon has had to piecemeal together a defensive unit due to injuries such as the one suffered by Cournoyer the week before.
The Centaurs also disrupted all three of the Stonington corners with Eliza Dutson causing havoc for the Bears set plays.
“Eliza has an amazing attitude and gives us an amazing effort all of the time. She is always willing to put her body on the line and do whatever takes to either stop the ball or put it into the net,” Gagnon said. “She is an amazing threat anywhere on the field. It’s always a tough question. Where do I put her? Where do I need her most?”
The Centaurs fell behind by three when Elena Korinek took a pass from Arruda and put it into the cage 10:23 into the second half.
That goal woke the Centaurs up.
The Centaurs began to challenge and got a couple of corners with one of them producing the Centaurs first goal.
Avery Jones took the corner in deep and handed it off to Abby Kruger who scored her second goal of the season with 15:12 left.
Just 2 ½ minutes later, senior Abbe Lecuyer challenged the net, took a shot and took keeper Claire Evans out of the play.
The rebound on the shot went right to Lecuyer’s teammate, Hannah Chubbuck.
“I knocked the goalie down to the ground with my body and Chubs just flicked it right in,” Lecuyer said.
Unfortunately, the Centaurs could not get the equalizer.
Arruda put the cap on the contest with her second goal of the afternoon with 6:52 to play when she scored off her own rebound.
“A little disappointing, but we can always come back and get them next time. We played our 60 minutes of field hockey as a team like we were supposed to, didn’t let anybody down and it was a good game,” Lecuyer said.
LeCuyer had her own personal highlight earlier in the week when the senior scored her first career goal.
Dutson passed the ball to Lecuyer and she turned and put the ball in with 20:21 left in the game against Waterford Sept. 27.
“It felt so good,” Lecuyer said. “I was almost in tears when I scored that goal.”
It tied the game up for the moment for the Centaurs.
“She gets the girls really hyped up when she goes in. She brings an energy to the field and she has these big, strong hits so if she rips a shot and it goes off the (goalie’s) pads, we will rebound it in. She’s very distracting at high forward. She and Sam Mowry make (other teams) notice them and it really distracts them from the other players carrying the ball up the field,” Gagnon said.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, 10 minutes after Lecuyer’s goal, Hannah Linder scored off the third assist of the game by Cassidy Susi to give Waterford (3-2, 3-1 ECC) the win.
Mowry and Dutson both scored off Rachel Canedy assists for Woodstock Academy.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
..
By Shawn Bates
PUTNAM — The Putnam High School boys’ soccer team managed to get out a win against Plainfield at home Sept. 21 with a 1-0 win over the Panthers.
John Espinosa scored for the Clippers on a Tyion Harris assist.
Sept. 24 the Clippers took the loss against Wheeler High 0-5. And Sept. 26 the Clippers lost 1-5 against a skilled Windham High team. Kobie Bates netted lone goal for the Clippers.
The Lady Clippers meet up with their old CSC rival Parish Hill and took the 2-1 loss Sept. 17.
Sept. 20 the Clippers faced the Windham Whippets and won 6-2 in Putnam. But the ladies faced the Montville Indians Sept. 27 and took the 0-5 loss on the road.
The Clippers’ Laylah Chavez was named Athlete of the Week by the ECC Conference. She is the first athlete from Putnam to be named for this weekly distinction since the Clippers rejoined the ECC Conference.