|
By ERIC BENEVIDES Sports writer NORTH SMITHFIELD --- North Smithfield High may have hosted the Division III semifinals, but St. Raphael Academy felt right at home in their matchup with the Northmen on Wednesday night.
The underdog Saints stepped up their game and turned in one of their finest performances of the year -- especially defensively -- and came away with a stunning 4-2 victory over the favored Northmen that vaulted them into their first championship game in their 11-year existence.
Junior striker Emma Lynch scored her 20th and 21st goals of the season for the winners, and the defense, keyed by a 20-save performance by freshman netminder Caitlin Dunne, rose to the occasion and helped solidify arguably the biggest victory to date in the Saints’ soccer program.
“I told the girls at the beginning (of the game) that (NS) is better on paper, and we knew that they’re a stronger and tougher team, but we had the heart today,” said first-year SRA head coach Ashley Femino, who was a standout player for the Saints in the early part of the decade and an ’04 graduate. “We played 80 minutes of soccer, and we played with our heads and our heart.”
Femino and her Saints (10-6-2) hope to duplicate their phenomenal play on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Pierce Field when they contest unbeaten Division III-South champion Tiverton High, which raised its record to 18-0-0 by topping Burrillville High in their semifinal-round meeting.
The Tigers won their two divisional meetings with the Saints by scores of 7-2 and 3-1, but when it comes to their history of championship games, they have been a snakebitten bunch. In the Division III’s 19 seasons of existence, the Tigers are 0-6 in title games, and that includes a string of three straight losses from 2004-06.
The Northmen, who lost in last year’s Division III finals to Lincoln High, saw a successful year (which included a Division III-North championship) come to a shocking halt at the hands of a team that they handled with ease by a 4-0 score in their lone regular-season meeting back on Sept. 19.
“We knew when we played them the first time that (SRA’s performance) really wasn’t a representation of what they can do,” said NS coach Stephen DeMeo. “They were one of the highest scoring teams in the league, but they also gave up a lot of goals. We thought that we’d be a little more explosive on offense tonight. We had them scouted, we were prepared, but give credit to them. They were equally prepared and really stepped up tonight.”
The Saints, who gave up the second-most goals in the division (40) during the regular season, turned things around at the right time against their hosts, who boasted the second-highest scoring offense in the division (45 goals).
Not only did Dunne shine brightly between the posts, especially in the final 15 minutes of the game, but sweeper Margie Zahn and defenders Danielle Peloquin, Meg Malloy, and Felicia Lambert also quietly got the job done.
“Our defense was spectacular,” remarked Femino. “I knew coming in that they had their two key players, (21-goal scorer) Ashleigh Guy and Amanda Collins, but I had two of my best defenders on them (Peloquin and Lambert) and they just beat them to the ball, and that made all the difference.
“Margie in the back, she’s consistent. She’s a great leader back there and she controls the defense. We caught them offsides a lot, and Margie took charge of that. My other defender, Meg (Malloy), also played a great game. It was just an all-around team effort.”
“No 10 (Danielle Peloquin) and Margie (Zahn) pretty much won every ball, and they were phenomenal in the back,” said DeMeo, whose crew ends the season with a 16-2 mark. “We didn’t play up to our potential tonight, but St. Ray’s certainly played extraordinary. If they play like this on Saturday night, they’re going to be very tough to beat.”
The Saints made their presence felt right away, when 6½ minutes into play, Lynch got her team on the board by belting a shot into the left corner of the night past NS freshman keeper Sidra Ethier.
The visitors later doubled the lead with 7:40 to play in the half on Lynch’s next goal, which came off a corner kick and saw her find the back of the net on a shot that came in the middle of a scramble for the ball in front of NS’s goal.
But with less than a minute to play in the half, the Northmen cut their deficit in half on a goal by freshman Ainsile Gibbs, who tapped a soft shot from 15 yards out that managed to squeeze between an all-out dive by Dunne and the right post and find the twines.
The Northmen carried the momentum into the break, but the Saints grabbed it right back near the start of the second half. At 8:10, freshman striker Kytresa Ivey-Jones netted her 21st goal of the season by gathering a corner kick by Peloquin and firing a bullet into the bottom left corner of the net.
“We practiced hard all week on corner kicks and getting to the ball first,” said Femino. “We capitalized on two of our corner kicks, so that hard work paid off.”
That goal clearly zapped some of the wind out of the Northmen’s sails -- it marked the first time this season that they allowed more than two goals in a game, but the Northmen again responded.
Less than two minutes later, Collins again made it a one-goal game with her 11th goal of the season, as she lofted a high 15-yard shot from a tough angle near the right corner of the field that floated over the reach of Dunne and landed in the top left corner of the net.
After that score, the Northmen continued to relentlessly attack the Saints’ end of the field, and in the final 15 minutes of play, they pelted Dunne with some of their best shots of the night and had a few other bids that just sailed wide of the goal.
But with 5½ minutes to play, the Saints extinguished a lot of the drama from the duel on a breakaway goal by Kayla Haggarty, who took a nice pass from Lynch, maneuvered around an NS defender that slipped on the turf, broke in alone on Ethier, and beat her with a shot into the right corner of the net.
“It’s difficult to see maybe from the stands, but the coaching job that they did tonight -- getting their players ready and strategically exposing some of our weaknesses -- was a phenomenal job,” said DeMeo. “We had a chance to go to the finals last year, but now it’s their turn. I’m happy for them, but at the same time, I’m obviously very disappointed with the results.”
While the Saints quickly exited the field after a mini celebration near their bench, DeMeo spent close to a half hour talking to his players in the corner of the field and consoling his seven seniors who were freshmen when he took over the team four years ago.
“This is a very difficult loss for me,” said DeMeo. “My seniors have been with me since my first day as head coach, and we steadily improved, from one win our first year, to four, then 11, and 15 this year. The girls have so much to be proud of, but this wasn’t the ending that we had hoped for.”
***
St. Raphael 2 - 2 -- 4
North Smithfield 1 - 1 -- 2
First half: SRA -- Emma Lynch (unassisted), 6:30; SRA -- Emma Lynch (unassisted), 32:20; NS -- Ainsile Gibbs (unassisted), 39:00.
Second half: SRA -- Kytresa Ivey-Jones (Danielle Peloquin), 8:10; NS -- Amanda Collins (unassisted), 10:00; SRA -- Kayla Haggerty (Emma Lynch), 34:30.
Shots on goal: St. Raphael 15, North Smithfield 22. Goalie saves: SRA -- Caitlin Dunne (20 saves); NS -- Sidra Ethier (11 saves). |
Horoscope