Week 6: Centaurs back on the winning side
After finishing on the wrong side of the scoreboard in their last four matches, the Woodstock Academy prep soccer team posted a pair of victories on Thursday and Saturday.
“We needed (these wins) very badly, just needed something to go our way,” said Woodstock Academy coach Joe Cherackal.
The Centaurs opened the week with a 4-1 win over Pathfinder FC and followed that up with a 7-3 victory over Hoosac School in New York.
The two wins raised the Centaurs overall record to 6-5-2 and they are now 3-2 in the Global Education Sports Partners League.
Lucas Basmadjian was a force against Hoosac as he finished with a hat trick to give him eight goals on the season.
Jesus de la Torre, Brian Manon, Luis Granados and Marc Ballart also scored for the Centaurs.
Woodstock Academy let Pathfinder hang around a bit longer than Cherackal would have liked at the Bentley Athletic Complex on Thursday.
“I think the final score didn’t reflect how many chances we had in the first half but that’s been the story of the season so far and going into the second half, Pathfinder was still in the game and it shouldn’t have been,” the Centaurs coach said.
Woodstock Academy converted on a penalty kick early by Manu Marquez and that was equaled by a goal from the visitors.
Basmadjian put the Centaurs ahead to stay with 4 minutes, 38 seconds left when he took a pass from Granados.
Cherackal urged his team not to be satisfied with the 1-goal lead at halftime and Basmadjian made his coach a bit happier when he took a pass from Javier Menendez just 15:03 into the second half to put the Centaurs up by a pair of goals.
“I should have scored more, but I’m happy,” Basmadjian said. “It was nice to get a win. I kind of felt like we would before the game.”
It was a goal that the sideline knew was big.
“It was really important to get that third goal. It settled us and gave us a little separation,” Cherackal said.
The Centaurs put a little exclamation point on top when Alejandro Minguela put one in the back of the net with 2:38 left in regulation.
“Alejandro is 14-years-old and the finish that he took (Thursday), I will be very frank, was a professional finish. It was shaped, outside of the frame, coming back on frame and that’s what pros do and it had the pace of a pro and he’s only 14-years-old,” Cherackal said. “Sometimes, our 14-year-olds in games don’t have those opportunities because they are playing 16, 17,18, and 19-year-olds and from the physicality standpoint, it’s hard to be successful.”
