By BRANDEN MELLO
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CRANSTON — The Exeter-West Greenwich girls soccer team made sure for the fourth consecutive year the team with the best record in Division II wouldn’t hold up the state championship plaque at the end of the season.
The Knights, who know about playoff disappointment after three straight one-goal exits from the quarterfinal round, did something Monday in the Division II semifinals that no other team has done this year – beat the Mount.
Sophomore midfielder Alexis Clements scored a brilliant opening goal off a free kick from her sister Ariana Clements and scored a second on a penalty kick, while senior captain Hayley Kenyon scored the game-winning goal in the 39th minute to lift the underdog Scarlet Knights to a 3-2 win over the favored Mounties.

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By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NORTH SCITUATE—The boys and girls cross country teams from North Kingstown  have had remarkably similar seasons.
Both went 9-0 during the dual meet portion of their schedule, both won the Southern Division title and both finished third in their Class Meet Saturday at Ponaganset.
And, if they keep this up, both may well end up with state championship banners this weekend to boot.
NK junior Zach Sietes-Rundlett had the best individual finish for the Skippers Saturday, placing sixth overall in the boys meet, but the Skipper girls fared just as well as freshman Aisha McAdams and seniors Kathryn Lynch and Kelsey Evans finished eighth, ninth and 11th overall as both NK squads put in solid performances in the last event before states.

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By BRANDEN MELLO
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CRANSTON — There was only way to describe the Chariho boys’ soccer team’s two victories over North Kingstown during the regular season. The Chargers, thanks to the play of All-New England forward Nick Dubee dominated the Skippers at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season.
Tuesday night, the Chargers and No. 7 Skippers met on Cranston Stadium’s beautiful FieldTurf for a spot in Saturday’s state final and it was hard to see what formation North coach Kyle Froberg could devise to keep his team in the game against the explosive Chargers.
Froberg, instead of sitting in his own penalty box for 80 minutes, opted to play an open game against the I-South champions. The decision made for great theater and an intriguing game of soccer.
Chariho senior Tyler Zegarzewski opened the scoring with a low shot from outside the penalty area in the first half and Dubee doubled the lead just minutes into the second half. Andy Hess cut the deficit in half at 45 minutes, but the No. 3 Chargers held on for a 2-1 win to reach their first state final.
“This is the first time in Chariho history we’ve made the finals in D-I,” Chariho  all-division goalie Brad Borsay said after a superlative six-save performance. “We’re all pumped up and we’re all excited. We feel like we’re invincible right now, just the adrenaline we have right now is amazing.”

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By BRANDEN MELLO
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EAST GREENWICH — Narragansett boys’ soccer coach Ryan Kanaczet has played top-seeded East Greenwich enough times over the last few seasons to know you can’t stop the powerful Avengers by marking the best scorer – Michael Monti – and top playmaker – Scott Douglas – in Division II-South out of games.
To slow down the East Greenwich offensive machine Kanaczet said, you have to stop the attack at its hub. That why, when the No. 5 Mariners visited Eldredge Field for a Division II quarterfinal contest with the Avengers Thursday night, the Mariners flooded the midfield with bodies to try and choke the supply of balls coming from central midfielders  Robert Bialy and Matt Gowell.
Narragansett’s 3-5-1-1 formation worked brilliantly in the first half as the Mariners forced EG to play long balls which were invariably cut out by Justin Cesino and the Mariner backline. But, the road side could only hold out for so long as the Avengers used two goals from Monti and a tally from man-of-the-match Ben Berger to earn a 3-0 win.
“We knew we had to mark the middle because they come through the middle,” Kanaczet said. “We had them on the ropes, we had them nervous early on. Their defense, think, so suspect and that’s what we tried to go at. They the depth and they have a lot of skilled kids that play in premier leagues. They are probably the best team in our division.”

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By BRANDEN MELLO
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EAST GREENWICH — Just seven minutes into East Greenwich’s Division I girls’ soccer quarterfinal match with Cumberland Thursday afternoon, EG coach Dave Petrucci wasn’t happy with all-division forward Cara Nunez and her attacking partner, freshman Skylar LeBlanc.
Instead of allowing the prolific duo to continue to make the same mistakes, Petrucci pulled the pair off the field, told them what they were doing wrong and unleashed them back on Cumberland’s fragile defense.
Apparently the pair got the message because they ran rampant for the final 75 minutes of the game. Nunez scored three goals and added an assist, while LeBlanc, who scored a hat trick the last time the two teams met, had a goal and an assist in the 7-3 victory over the Clippers.

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By JAMES BESSETTE
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NORTH SCITUATE — Most cross country enthusiasts around the state are curious on what the East Greenwich girls’ cross country team is going to be like when it is free from illness.
Certainly, being sick didn’t have a severe affect on the Avengers on Saturday in the RIIL Class C Cross Country Championships as they qualified for Sunday’s State Championship meet by finishing third overall with 113 points.

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By ERIC RUEB
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CRANSTON – The banging of the ball against the goal’s board was the cruelest of noises.
For all of regulation and two overtimes, the No. 3-seeded East Greenwich field hockey team took everything No. 1-seeded Barrington had and gave it right back to them.
But 22 seconds into the third overtime, with the crowd at Cranston Stadium on its feet, Barrington’s Hillary Anderson took a pass from Kelly Dolan and rifled it to the back of the goal, sending the Eagles’ into hysteria and the Avengers into hysterics.
“None of us have any regrets. We put our hearts on the field, played as a team and it came down to a lucky goal,” EG’s Lindsey Buckheit said. “Three overtimes is intense and you’re running around … for almost an hour and a half? No regrets.”
“We just played our hearts out,” EG senior Rose Cheng said. “They just got a good shot off.”

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By BRANDEN MELLO

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CRANSTON — For the fifth straight season, there will be a new Division I boys’ soccer champion. The only question when the Saturday’s highly-anticipated contest kicks off at 1:00 p.m. at Rhode Island College is will the new champion be a powerful parochial school that hasn’t won the title since 1998 or the upstart rural squad looking for its first D-I title.
Chariho, which won back-to-back Division II titles in 1994-95, came into the season with lofty expectations after winning I-South last season. The last goal the Chargers talked about in preseason was reaching the state final   
Well, after beating North Kingstown Tuesday night, the Chargers are in the state final. The only surprise is the opponent they will be facing. The Chargers thought they would have to overcome La Salle Academy in the final, but the Rams were shocked 2-0 by Hendricken Tuesday night to setup one of the more unlikely finals this decade.

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By BRANDEN MELLO
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CRANSTON — There was only way to describe the Chariho High boys’ soccer team’s two victories over North Kingstown during the regular season. The Chargers, thanks to the play of All-New England forward Nick Dubee dominated the Skippers at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season.
Tuesday night, the Chargers and No. 7 Skippers met on Cranston Stadium’s beautiful FieldTurf for a spot in Saturday’s state final and it was hard to see what formation North coach Kyle Froberg could devise to keep his team in the game against the explosive Chargers.
Froberg, instead of sitting in his own penalty box for 80 minutes, opted to play an open game against the I-South champions. The decision made for great theater and an intriguing game of soccer.
Chariho senior Tyler Zegarzewski opened the scoring with a low shot from outside the penalty area in the first half and Dubee doubled the lead just minutes into the second half. Andy Hess cut the deficit in half at 45 minutes, but the No. 3 Chargers held on for a 2-1 win to reach their first state final.
“This is the first time in Chariho history we’ve made the finals in D-I,” Chariho  all-division goalie Brad Borsay said after a superlative six-save performance. “We’re all pumped up and we’re all excited. We feel like we’re invincible right now, just the adrenaline we have right now is amazing.”

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By DAVID PEPIN
Special to the Times

BRISTOL – You can call this Halloween Eve horror story Nightmare on Chestnut Street.
With the script calling for a powerhouse Mount Hope squad hosting senior night and undermanned visitors from Chariho, the ending was inevitable: a 47-0 rout Friday.
The Chargers’ long injury- and flu-ravaged season grew even longer when faced with a dominant backfield and a defense that has allowed just 27 points in six Division II-A games.
By halftime, Mount Hope had scored on four of its five offensive possessions, held a 27-0 lead, mercifully dispatched sophomore tailback Aaron Booth to the bench after 189 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, and held Chariho to just one first down.

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