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Burrillville girls head to Div. III soccer finals |
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 |
By STEVE MAZZONE
Sports writer
NORTH SMITHFIELD - During the regular season, Burrillville High produced one of its strongest defensive games of the fall campaign to hand Tiverton High its only loss in Division III.
With a similar effort by the ‘D’ in Wednesday’s semifinal contest versus Narragansett, the Broncos will have another chance to repeat the magic and earn the school its first state crown since 1993.
Karissa Prete and Mariah Gonzalez each scored first-half goals and the defense took care of the rest in the latter half as the Broncos (12-3-1) secured its ticket to the Division III finals with a satisfying 2-1 decision over the Mariners.
The victory now sets up a rematch with Tiverton (15-1-0) in the championship tilt. The Tigers beat North Smithfield (10-4-2) with a deceiving 4-0 shutout in the second game of the semifinal twinbill.
“It feels great,” said first-year Burrillville coach Amy Cardone. “I am very proud of them. They have worked very hard all season to get to the finals. It feels good.”
Cardone anticipates a battle royale when the two teams go for all the marble this Sunday at 4 p.m., at Rhode Island College.
“They are going to come out ready to win, ready to play hard,” said Cardone, about the Tigers, who suffered their lone loss to the Broncos by a 4-2 score on Oct. 2. “We’ve got to be even more prepared because they are going to want to get back at us.”
“(Burrillville) will be very, very tough,” said Tiverton coach Chris Messenger. “They beat us in the regular season. We did not like the offside trap at all. We were very bad at it. We didn’t learn our lesson. We practiced it and we will practice it again for the next couple of days.”
In what was a fairly even contest from the opening whistle, Burrillville and Narragansett (7-4-5) had their chances in the initial half but it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes when some numbers appeared on the scoreboard.
Just 10 seconds into the contest, the Mariners’ Katelyn Richardson booted a close-ranger that hit the top crossbar. The Broncos had their opportunities early on as well. Gonzalez had a breakaway attempt about five minutes later, but her shot from 15 yards away landed right in the waiting arms of goalie Elizabeth Castro.
Finally, with 9:47 remaining in the half, Prete gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead when she unleashed a high-sailing shot from 27-yards out that was out of the range of Castro’s out-stretched hands.
It didn’t take long for the Mariners to knot things up. A little more than 30 seconds later, Narragansett freshman Carla Porras took advantage of a scuffle in front of the cage to sneak one by Burrillville keeper Taylor Maurath.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Cardone said. “We played them earlier in the season and won, 3-1, but two of our goals were from three kicks.”
Gonzalez scored the eventual game-winner when she fired in a straight-on shot from 13 yards away that found the right side of the cage. The senior forward was the leading scorer in the entire league with 35 goals for the regular season. Prete, also a senior, topped the league in assists and was among the best in scoring.
“It’s no surprise that they were able to put the ball in the back of the net,” Cardone said. “They stepped up for us every game. But overall we have a great team that supports everybody.”
Holding their 2-1 cushion entering the game’s final 40 minutes, Burrillville’s defense was able to stop a number of opportunities by the Mariners. Maurath led the charge with a stellar performance between the pipes. She finished with 21 saves.
“Our defense stepped up and shut them down in the second half and we held on for the win,” Cardone said. “Our defense was definitely the key. If we didn’t shut them down (in the second half) it could have been a totally different outcome. Our keeper, she made some incredible saves and really sealed the win for us.”
For nearly 70 minutes, North Smithfield and Tiverton were engaged in a scoreless tie in their game.
The offense then woke up for the Tigers, who netted all their goals in the final 10:40 of the contest. Sam William started the scoring when she took a corner kick from teammate Victoria Pierce that bounced only a few feet from the cage. William charged at the ball and managed to tip the eventual game-winner with her leg, just below her knee.
Tiverton would scored its next three in the final six minutes.
“I figured the game was going to be very strong,” said Messenger, whose squad has been to the finals four of the last five years but lost in all those tilts. “(N.S. head coach Steve DeMeo) lost some good players from last year but they stayed strong, stayed consistent. They played us very well today.”
Despite the final outcome, Demeo had nothing but high praise for his squad against the tournament’s top seed. In their only regular season match-up, Tiverton blanked N.S., 5-0.
“I am extraordinary proud of them,” he said. “They followed the game plan to a ‘T’ for about 70 minutes and then it started to unravel. I can’t think of a time in the last four or five years where Tiverton went 70 minutes without scoring. We played exceptional soccer for 70 minutes. When they put that first one in we tried to move up and play a more defensive formation to get that equalizing goal and it ended up burning us. I’m happy for Tiverton but I am very proud of our girls.” |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 November 2009 )
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