Week 6: Centaurs blank Plainfield, 2-0
The Woodstock Academy girls soccer team is above the .500 mark.
The Centaurs downed Plainfield Wednesday, 2-0, to raise their record to 5-4-2.
“It’s been awhile,” Woodstock Academy coach Dennis Snelling said of finally getting above the break-even mark.
Since the 2020 season to be exact.
“I think the kids are happy about it,” Snelling said. “It shows obvious progress. It’s not being worried about (qualifying for) the States or anything like that, it’s just about getting better.”
But it does have an impact on the Class L state tournament.
Woodstock Academy needs just one tie over its last five matches and it guarantees itself a state tournament berth.
That didn’t happen until the last game of the season a year ago.
The Centaurs are also still in the running for a couple of other goals; an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I regular season title and an ECC tournament berth.
They have matches next week with Fitch and Norwich Free Academy, both at home at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Should they be successful in those, it could potentially set up a match for the title on Monday, Oct. 24 at East Lyme.
“I like the order that the games are in as far as playing for the Division I title. We just have to win out and it’s in the order that we want to play them. If it comes down to that night game at East Lyme, playing for the league title, that’s kind of fun,” Snelling said.
The schedule has been an up-and-down one.
After playing three matches the week before, the Centaurs only had the match with the Panthers this week.
It took a while to get on the board against Plainfield.
Maya Orbegozo finally found the ball on her foot close to the end line 22 ½ minutes into the first half.
The senior got the cross to her classmate Grace Gelhaus at the top of the box and Gelhaus was able to beat a Plainfield defender and finished with her off-foot, the right, for her seventh goal of the season and the 1-0 Woodstock Academy lead.
It was the only goal the Centaurs would get for much of the match.
“I thought we would have been able to build a more comfortable lead with the amount of chances we had. It seemed like we were getting the ball close to their net but couldn’t get that finishing pass,” Snelling said.
Woodstock Academy finally got insurance with 11 ½ to play when Leah Costa found fellow sophomore Isabella Selmecki who converted for her second goal of the season.
It meant that going into the next-to-last week of the regular season, the Centaurs have a lot to play for.
“It’s all there and we have the pieces to do it. Everyone is healthy,” Snelling said.
