East Providence boys' soccer club earns playoff berth

Playoff-bound Townies close girls' soccer season with a win

East Providence's Nathan Bento battles for control of the ball with a East Greenwich opponent.

Photos by Tim Marshall

East Providence's Nathan Bento outruns East Greenwich defenders to take a shot on net.

East Providence's Zauhary Araujo defends the East Providence goal for advancing East Greenwich forwards.

East Providence's John Caleb Kauffman punts the ball down field to East Providence forwards.

East Providence's Nathan Bento races the keep the ball in bounds at midfield.

EastBayRI.com · Tuesday, October 25, 2016 11:28 pm

By Mike Rego

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys' soccer team got the points it needed to qualify for the Division I playoffs in its regular season finale after the Townies dispatched East Greenwich, 2-0, Tuesday night, Oct. 25. Nathan Bento and Tyler Coehlo scored the goals for the locals. Manny Gouveia had an assist. Nathan Silveira posted the clean sheet in net on seven saves.
E.P. faced a must win situation, requiring all three points awarded for a victory to earn their postseason spot. The Townies finished their slate with a 3-7-4 record and the minimum qualifying number of 13 points. E.P. will play a preliminary round game some time this week.
"I felt like we played well and deserve to win the match," EPHS head coach Tony Vieira. "The guys knew what needed to be done and they controlled their own destiny. And to their credit they stepped up and delivered. We start our new season tomorrow and are very much looking forward at a chance to extend our season and continue to grow as a group."

Girls' notes

It was back to business as usual for the EPHS girls' soccer team earlier this week as the Townies rebounded from their only loss to date to rout host Mt. Pleasant, 8-1, in their final Division III regular season contest played in Providence.
The Townies, who suffered a 5-2 loss to unbeaten Johnston last week, completed their league slate with a 10-1 record and will be the second seed in the D-III playoffs. The Panthers went 11-0 and will be the No. 1 seed.
Grace Abrams added to her team-leading goals total for E.P. by netting a hat-trick against the Kilties this week. Abrams finished the regular season with 22 goals. Julia Andrade added pair of goals and upped her team-best assists total to 16 with three in the game. Aaliyah Pattie, Arianna Calouro and Megan Enes added the other goals. Mt. Pleasant had no shots on goal.
"We were a little sloppy, but a win is a win," said EPHS head coach Angelo Pizzi. "I thought we responded well to the loss, but the kids came out with a little bit of a hangover. We scored early, but we didn't play with the quickness we normally do. They were a little lagging getting back into it."
East Providence will have had about 10 days off between games as they await the start of the playoffs on either November 4 or 5. The Townies, as the higher seed, will host a quarterfinal round game next weekend.
"We've already established that our record is 0-0. Playoffs are a new season," Coach Pizzi added. "We're going to go back to our summer training, strictly conditioning and basic skills to get ready."

— Photos by Tim Marshall