Vikes are back in the winner’s circle
East Lyme wins first ECC title since 2016
Woodstock — The goal which finally put the game away for the East Lyme girls' soccer team, bringing with it the first Eastern Connecticut Conference division title since 2016, couldn't have been a more perfect illustration of how Wednesday's game went for the Vikings.
"We never stopped working," East Lyme coach Rachel Redding said. "We might have gotten beat to a few balls, but we never stopped working."
East Lyme sophomore Margaret Dunne added an insurance goal in the waning moments of the ECC Division I matchup with defending champion Woodstock Academy to put a smile on the face of her teammates as the Vikings won 2-0 and wrapped up the championship.
Dunne, who like her teammates struggled during the game for any sort of highlights against a Woodstock team that was seemingly at its best, came out of the game for a short break with East Lyme leading 1-0 late. When she went back in, she muscled her way past a defender on the right side, not once, but twice, then glided to the goal and scored with 6 minutes, 19 seconds to go.
"It was just to give me a quick breather and then put me back in, a quick pep talk," Dunne said. "(Redding) told me to go out there and run at everything . ... That girl (on defense) kept hitting me hard. I didn't want to do all that work to get there (and not score); I didn't want to give it up."
"Margaret's a workhorse," Red
ding said. "It was a great play, great hustle. That's what we look for."
Woodstock outshot East Lyme 18-7 and had 11 corner kicks to the Vikings' 5. East Lyme, though — 8-3-2 overall, 4-0-1 in Division I with one league game remaining against Fitch — had a few weapons in its defense, including senior sweeper Angie Venditti and senior goalie Avery Owen (12 saves).
Venditti, in addition to chasing down dangerous Woodstock scoring opportunities, took the Vikings' five corner kicks, setting up East Lyme's first goal with 9:31 to play in the first half when she served one in front of the goal mouth which was converted by teammate Alivia Catanzaro.
The Vikings led 1-0 at halftime. Woodstock, however, put Owen to the test right away, beginning a minute and a half into the second half when Kayla Gaudreau's corner from the left side carried directly to the goalie.
Owen made a diving save midway through the period on a shot by Grace Gelhaus and two minutes later she dove again, knocking a ball away, then picking it up still inbounds to avoid a corner. Peyton Saracina headed a ball over the East Lyme goal with 18 minutes to play and the Centaurs were still firing at the eight-minute mark when Owen retrieved a direct kick.
East Lyme defeated Woodstock (74-1, 2-3) earlier in the season 4-1 at home.
Woodstock has won the last two ECC tournament titles, finishing 16-2-2 last season, but graduated leading scorer Ivy Gelhaus (19 goals, 5 assists) and center back Heather Converse (game-winning goal in the ECC final), among others, making the Centaurs younger and more inexperienced.
"It meant a lot," Venditti said of Wednesday's game. "They came out kind of wanting vengeance for us beating them last time. And we're coming back this season (after last season's 4-12-1 mark) ... we came back for vengeance, too. It feels so good."
"It's great to win against great teams," Redding said. "I'm happy for the girls to see they're good soccer players and they can win these type of games. It's a big game. (Woodstock) is a great team and Dennis (Snelling) is a great coach . ... We never gave up. That's what's important." v.fulkerson@theday.com