Roundup
Centaurs off to 3-0 start in girls’ tennis
An undefeated start is certainly not unheard of. But the Woodstock Academy girls’ tennis team had a really nice first week of competition.
The Centaurs are off to a 3-0 start after shutout victories over Ledyard and Montville and 5-2 decision over Stonington.
“It’s been good,” said first-year head coach Stephen Wetherell. “The girls have been doing great. They have stayed focused and are playing Woodstock Academy tennis. We have focused in on what that means for us and just kind of getting into rhythm.”
It was the win over Stonington on the Bears’ home courts that raised eyebrows.
“We were very happy. We haven’t beaten Stonington in a few seasons. To get back out there, be competitive and beat them was great. I think (his players) are ecstatic about the start of the season as a whole and focusing on what we can do and what we still have to improve on,” Wetherell said.
The Centaurs have certainly benefitted from having a team that is largely intact from a year ago.
That familiarity has made the process of determining who plays singles and what the doubles teams will look like much easier.
Gianna Musumeci has settled in at No. 1 singles where she is off to a 2-1 start while fellow senior Wynter Worth has been playing at second singles and is undefeated in her first three matches including a come-from -behind effort against Rachel Kulterman of Ledyard. Kulterman took the first set in the season opening match for both teams, 6-4, but Worth came back to get the win thanks to taking the next two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Catherine Trudeau is the other undefeated Centaurs with a 3-0 mark at No. 4 singles. Kerrigan Reynolds is 2-1 at third singles.
“The chemistry of the girls on the team,” Wetherell said when asked what the strength of the team is,”Even between singles and doubles players, everybody stays for the matches, everyone cheers everyone on. Our doubles teams are awesome and really work well together. I can’t be more proud of how things have started for them,” Wetherell said.
Delilah Kesselman and Sophia Aguilar Del Olmo are undefeated at first doubles but they are hardly alone.
The same could be said for Jayda Ngibuini and Andrea De Cos Ortiz at second doubles and, not to be left out, Mariia Oliinyk at third doubles who has been paired with both Lillian Gregorzek and Emma Mairson.
Now, the bad news. The Centaurs, after their win over Montville last Thursday, have two weeks off before their next match against Waterford thanks to spring break for most schools.
“We will have a few days when we come back to get back into shape. I told the girls wherever they are going on trips or anything or going home to make sure that they keep active. If they can get their hands on a racquet, great, if not, just don’t come back sluggish. I have no doubt in my mind that they will, we have a good group of girls,” Wetherell said.
Track and Field
There were some who did as double take when they saw the final score of the season-opening meet for the boys’ track and field team at East Lyme.
Not only did the Centaurs defeat East Lyme, they did so in dominant fashion.
Woodstock posted the 114.5-34.5 over East Lyme on the Vikings home track on Wednesday.
“I think that’s the first time we have won a (dual) meet against East Lyme and it was decisive,” said coach Josh Welch. “East Lyme had a couple of sick athletes and were missing a pole vaulter but we were the stronger team all around and that was really nice to be so dominant down there.”
Senior Eli Manning won both the shotput (45 feet, 11 ¼ inches) and discus (123-3) but what made that even more impressive was that the Centaurs swept the top five in both events.
Manning also was first in the javelin competition.
“(Coach) Gerry (LaMontagne) continues to do amazing things with the throwers,” Welch said. “The leadership from Eli is tremendous. He helps out a lot with the younger kids and works his tail off.”
On the track, Owen Williamson, despite a tight hamstring, won the 110 and 300m hurdles and also took first in the high jump.
The hurdles have also been a source of pride for the Centaurs.
“On both teams that has been one of our strongest points. We have a plethora of hurdlers while most teams have one or two. We have developed some consistency there thanks to coach Michelle (Verilli) and that has helped quite a bit,” Welch said
Abraham McGregor was first in the 100m and the long jump and was second in the triple jump.
Colin Teal placed first in the 200 and 400-meter races and also was a member of the winning 4x400m relay team. Ronan Curran captured both the 800m and 1600m races.
The girls’ track team also took care of business last Wednesday as they were dominant in the weight events and that helped carry them over East Lyme 83.25-66.75.
“The girls had quite the fight,” Welch said. “East Lyme really pushed us. I think we have a really nice rivalry on the girls’ side with them. They all really like to challenge each other, not letting anything go, but are very kind and supportive at the same time. We had to demand a lot from everyone but we pulled through.”
Senior Lily Morgis established a school record in the discus, finishing first in the competition with a throw of 130-feet, 1-inch.
It wasn’t the furthest throw of her career but it was her best in a high school event.
“It’s not quite a personal best but it was an official school record. She is looking great,” Welch said.
Morgis followed that up with a second-place finish in the javelin to teammate Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain and was third in the shotput which teammate Avery Plouffe won and another teammate, Kiley Elliott, finished second.
“Avery and Isabel threw solid but there is so much more there. It was a cold day to throw especially at 6:30 at night after freezing for three hours. I think they did a really good job,” Welch said.
On the track, Emma Weitknecht finished first in the 100 and 300-meter hurdles and was also a member of the winning 4x100m relay team.
Emme Langevin , whom Welch is counting on to add some points from distance events, did just that as she was a member of the winning 4x800m team, finished first in the 1600m and 2nd in the 3200m.
Welch said that was a pre-planned extravaganza for the freshman.
“We wanted a definitive start to the meet and we know East Lyme’s 4x800 team is serious but it’s also an event we can take to Nationals and we wanted an early swing at that,” said Welch.
Langevin, Bella Amlaw, Olivia Tracy and Claire Bruneaux captured the win in the relay in 10:02.
“We also knew that even if she took it easy that (Langevin) would be in the top two or three in the 1600 and 3200 and we needed just enough to break (East Lyme) up. She decided to go out and win the 1600 and then pushed the leader in the 3200 just to make sure she would stay in second,” Welch described. “She did fantastic.”
Teagan Maloney was first in the 100m, second in the 200m and third in the 300m hurdles.
Weekend Invitational
The first day of spring break was hardly a day off for the boys’ and girls’ track teams.
The Centaurs took advantage of the time off to get on the bus and head to Bloomfield for the LadyHawks Invitational at Bloomfield High School on Saturday.
Lily Morgis, who set the school record earlier in the week at East Lyme, now owns the discus record for the Ladyhawks Invite.
The senior finished in first place and in possession of the meet record with a throw of 125-feet, 9-inches.
Avery Plouffe also took a first-place in the shotput while Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain was second in the javelin.
Kathryn Dobosz was a third-place finisher in the hammer throw which took place on Friday but bettered the school record in the event by eight feet with a throw of 134-feet, 1-inch.
There was also success on the track where the 4x800m relay team of Bella Amlaw, Melanie Dipippo, Nova Almquist and Claire Bruneaux finished first.
Bruneaux, Amlaw and Almquist followed up that effort with a 3-4-5 finish in the 800m race.
Elise Coyle placed second in the 400m, was fourth in the long jump and fifth in triple jump, two places back of teammate Ella Lidonde.
Emma Weitknecht placed third in the 100-meter hurdles while Teagan Maloney was fourth in 300m hurdles and sixth in the 200m.
The boys didn’t have a first-place finish but put together some strong performances. Senior Abe McGregor placed second in the 100m and third in the long jump.
Eli Manning, coming off a triple victory at East Lyme in the throws, placed third in both the shotput and javelin.
Owen Williamson put together a personal best time of 15.67 seconds to finish fifth in the 110m hurdles while Sam Green and Ronan Curran finished sixth and seventh respectively in the 800m and qualified for the state championship meet in that event in the process.
On Friday afternoon, Max Ellenberg took home a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw.
Boys’ Volleyball
The team put another goal on the list this past preseason.
Win the first-ever ECC boys’ volleyball championship.
The Centaurs were well on their way to make that happen as they opened the season with a trio of league victories.
Woodstock shut out New London, 3-0, to start the season and followed that up with two more shutout victories over Norwich Free Academy and Norwich Tech for the perfect start to the ECC season as well as the season as a whole.
“We’re three-quarters of the way there; we have another team to go in this first go-round. That definitely sits well. (NFA) was a team that we used to struggle against and Norwich Tech we’ve split the two games with for the past two seasons,” coach Adam Bottone said of the early success against ECC competition.
The Centaurs capped off the week with the 3-0 victory in their first road test of the season at Norwich Tech.
Evan Chernik had seven kills and 13 service points including a pair of aces. Brayden Bottone again led the team with 11 kills with Jake Henderson distributing 25 assists and Christian Hart leading the way defensively with 11 digs.
The only ECC team the Centaurs has not played as yet is Putnam.
As it was against the Warriors on Friday, there were no struggles for Woodstock against NFA on Wednesday. The Centaurs were dominant in the three sets, posting 25-14, 25-12, 25-13 victories.
“We’re happy with the way we played since we went 1-1 against (NFA) last year. Getting a 3-0 victory against them is really good for us,” said junior outside hitter Brayden Bottone.
Fellow junior middle hitter Owen Budd was happy with the win but also was hoping for a little more.
“A more competitive team would have benefitted us more. This was a nice win to have in the scorebook,” Budd said.
Brayden Bottone had 11 kills and Budd finished with nine kills to lead the offense; Henderson had 22 assists and Hart contributed 11 digs.
“Happy with the 3-0 win,” Adam Bottone said. “They did lose some players like Gavin (Hecker) who came over here. That helped us out. I feel like we played with and maintained a confidence and a positive mindset more so than we did Monday against New London which was nice to see. I’m happy we made that progressive step in our journey.”
Hecker will not be eligible to play for the Centaurs until after the halfway point of the season.
The Centaurs were successful against New London, a first-year varsity program, to start the season early in the week.
Woodstock recorded wins of 25-16, 25-12, and 25-15 in the three sets but were not quite as dominant as they were versus NFA.
That’s the thing with boys teams that I often tell people. Just because a team may be considered down, it’s really hard to say that because you just never know what will happen in a boys match,” Adam Bottone said. “I think we were flat against New London, there wasn’t a level of intensity but we passed and terminated really well, we covered and played good defense so I’m happy with how that one went.”
Brayden Bottone had 18 kills and 14 service points including four aces.
Budd chipped in with 10 kills, Henderson had 35 assists and Hart put up seven digs.
Boy’ Lacrosse
The team clawed back to the .500 mark on Saturday as the Centaurs captured a win in their home opener, 15-11, over RHAM High School.
The Raptors found some spark early as they jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the first 12 minutes but the Woodstock defense rose to the occasion.
The Centaurs shut out RHAM in the second quarter and scored five goals of their own to go up, 7-5, at the half.
The hosts kept the lead intact by scoring one more goal than the Raptors in both the third and fourth quarters.
Patrick Griswold and Jackson Aleman had the hot hands with five goals apiece. Cam Marshall chipped in with three tallies and both Zach Armbruster and Logan Rumrill had a goal apiece.
Corey Lafond was in the right place often as he had five assists while Griswold added two.
The victory broke a brief two-game losing streak for the Centaurs (2-2).
Woodstock feel behind early to Fitch Thursday.
The Falcons scored four times in the first quarter and the Centaurs never recovered, falling to Fitch, 6-3.
Griswold scored two goals and Aleman had the other in the loss for Woodstock (0-2 ECC Div. I).
Griswold and Aleman scored two goals each earlier in the week for the Centaurs in their ECC Div. I opener but it wasn't enough.
Host Waterford was able to double up on the Centaurs, 10-5, earlier in the week.
Rumrill added a goal and Lafond had a pair of assists for Woodstock Academy.
Boys’ Tennis
The team rolled to its second win, 6-1, over Montville in its home opener early last week.
The Centaurs easily swept the singles as Rodrigo Diez de los Rios Beigveder, Ryan Chabot, Dan Jameson and Heath White lost only five games between them in scoring straight set victories.
The first two doubles teams also posted wins for the Centaurs.
The victory followed on the heels of a nice win for the Centaurs in their season opener on Monday.
It was one of the goals to start the season according to coach Siana Green.
In her coaching career at the Academy, Green's boys’ tennis teams had not posted a win over Ledyard.
That monkey is now off the team's backs as the Centaurs rolled to a 6-1 victory at Ledyard High School.
The Centaurs swept the singles matches in straight sets.
Diez de los Rios Beigveder (6-1, 6-1); Chabot (6-1, 6-2), Jameson (6-1,6-1) and White (6-1, 6-0) all posted solid victories.
The Centaurs had to work a little harder in doubles.
Both the first doubles team of Cayden Worth and David Budd and the second doubles pair of Steven Shen and Jack Xia had to go to a deciding tiebreaker to get the victories as each doubles pair split their first two sets with their opponents.
Unfortunately, the good news did not extend into Thursday.
Woodstock ran into a tough Stonington team which handed the Centaurs (2-1) their first loss of the season, 6-1.
The Bears prevailed 6-1 with Heath White getting the only win for the Centaurs with an 8-1 pro set victory at third singles.
Girls’ Lacrosse
One more point. That’s how few senior Kaylee Saucier needs to reach a milestone in her high school lacrosse career.
Saucier had a productive start to the season this past week as she put together 15 points in the two matches that the Centaurs had on their home field.
That left her with 99 career points.
“She will get it,” coach Heather Miller said. “Of course, it will be nice to see a player reach a milestone like that. We will celebrate it, that’s for sure.”
Saucier will have to wait a bit and will likely have that celebration on the road as the Centaurs don’t play again until after spring break on April 20 in Killingly. The next game is also on the road at Stonington.
The offense was clicking for Woodstock in its first two matches, the defense was the question mark.
The Centaurs finished the opening week with a 0-2 record as they lost to Fitch, 19-10.
“Our defense struggled against a really strong attack by Fitch,” Miller said. “We were having troubles in our transitions and how to drop into a zone. Our attack got better (compared to the first outing) but the defense was the issue.”
Fitch opened a 7-3 lead by the end of the first quarter and increased that to a six-goal differential, 11-5, by the half.
The Centaurs did keep up with Fitch in the third quarter, 3-3, but were outscored 5-2 in the final 12 minutes to account for the final.
The team also experienced some troubles on the draw which allowed the Falcons numerous possessions in the second half.
“There are little corrections that we have to make like being more explosive off of the circle. Draws are 50-50, you can do everything you are supposed to do but still can’t 100 percent know where it is going to go,” Miller said.
The defense could do little to stop Fitch senior Bethany Lovering who finished with 10 goals for the Falcons while Haley Singer added four.
Saucier had a big day of her own with seven goals and two assists.
Vivian Bibeau added two goals and an assist and Clara Dowdle had a goal and two assists in the loss for Woodstock.
Saucier was coming off a four-goal, two-assist performance in a 9-6 loss to Ledyard in the team’s season opener earlier in the week.
Bibeau had two goals and Dowdle contributed two assists in that loss.
While the Centaurs have averaged eight goals a game, Miller would still like to see more players get involved.
“I asked them to get more points (versus Fitch) and we did that. I still have this vision of having more people shooting. Our opponents know it’s going to be Clara or Kaylee. We just have to build up the confidence in the team, not so much the skill, and confidence is hard to coach. We practice it a lot but they can’t be afraid in games, they just have to go and do it,” Miller said.
Baseball
A tough finish for the team last Wednesday. The Centaurs rallied to close within one run and had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, only to fall short to Montville, 11-10.
Rhys Asikainen had four hits and knocked in four runs for the Centaurs and Caleb Simoneau had two hits and two RBIs.
That was preceded by a difficult start for the Centaurs against Waterford earlier in the week.
The Lancers broke out to a four-run lead in the first inning and then put 11 runs across the plate in the third and went on to a 15-6 victory over Woodstock Monday.
The Lancers jumped out on top only to see the Centaurs rebound in the second inning.
A Will Ellsworth RBI double, a sacrifice fly by Hayden Maloney and a bases-loaded walk to Caleb Simoneau drew Woodstock within a run.
Waterford essentially put the game away, however, in the third inning when it pushed the double-digit run total across.
Brooks Lane led the Lancers with three hits and three RBI while Sal Bonnano and JT Sheppard each added two hits and two RBI each.
Simoneau and Ellsworth had two hits each for the Centaurs (0-3. 0-1 ECC Division II).
Softball
Montville scored 10 runs between the second and fourth innings to win their third straight game, 16-5, over Woodstock on Thursday.
Faith Sortwell and Maci Corradi had two runs driven in for the Centaurs, who fell to 0-3 overall, and both Ellary Sampson and Caroline Ethier had two hits each,
Savannah Malinkowsky paced Montville with three hits and five runs batted in while Rori Clark added two hits and two RBI.
Earlier in the week, Woodstock tied the game in the top of the seventh but host Lyman Memorial had the answer in the bottom of the inning, a walk off home run by Cayla Hawkins, that gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 win over the Centaurs.
Woodstock took the early, 1-0, lead on an RBI single by Campbell Favreau in the first inning only to see the Bulldogs scored three times in the bottom of the inning.
That’s the way it remained until the top of the seventh when an Ethier fielder’s choice drove in a pair of runs to tie the game for the Centaurs.
Sampson had three hits for Woodstock Academy while Favreau and Corradi had two each.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Captions:
Vivian Bibeau
Vivian Bibeau eludes Fitch senior defender Margaret Gulini in a girls’ lacrosse match last week.
Kaylee Saucier
Kaylee Saucier scores one of her seven goals against Fitch last week. She finished with a nine-point effort that left her one shy of 100 points for her high school career.
Owen Budd
Middle hitter Owen Budd (18) goes up for the ball while Libero Christian Hart (10) and Vaughn Buzak (19) look.
IMG 4123
Brayden Bottone elevates for a jump serve against Norwich Free Academy.
IMG 4092
Juniors Brayden Bottone (11) and Owen Budd (18) and senior Weston Mission discuss strategy.
Photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.