CITY CUP

Falcons shut out 'Bolts

The Cranston Herald ·

The Cranston West Lady Falcons shut out the Cranston East Lady ’Bolts, 3-0, in the City Cup late Sunday afternoon.

West had sophomore Julia Perreault in net, while East started with freshman Madison Gunderway and finished with sophomore Giannie Soto.

Despite the shutout, West head coach Jeremy Sherer wasn’t thrilled with the team’s effort.

“I think there’s something about this game that we never play well in,” West head coach Jeremy Sherer said. “We go on the field and we can tie La Salle nil, nil, and play phenomenal D-I soccer and then come here, this is a very small field. It’s probably the smallest field in the state. It’s hard to adjust to.”

“We played OK,” Sherer added. “I’m not thrilled. I tried to play all the seniors. I played some of the freshmen; I let everybody get used to trying to get some time in the City Cup.”

Three minutes into the contest, West junior captain Melissa Murphy fired a free kick from the 30 that was denied by Gunderway. Shortly after that, Gunderway was there to deny an attempt in front from Alayna Harvie after a pass from Heather DiFazio.

East came really close to a score with 27:44 to play when sophomore Kailey Link passed ahead to Hope Halverson, who fired it off the crossbar.

Then, with 26:37 left in the first half, West captain Katelyn Blake sniped in a free kick from about the 30, which went high off the hands of a leaping Gunderway and into the net to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.  

Three minutes after that, West’s Murphy launched a corner kick near the net and East was penalized for a handball, which resulted in a direct kick for West. Sophomore striker Elizabeth Marses drilled the penalty shot and gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 23:33 left in the first half.

Gunderway received a red card with 29:08 remaining in the second half when West’s DiFazio drove towards the goal before colliding with Gunderway, who came out to defend her net and accidentally tripped her. West elected Harvie to take the direct kick, which was denied by the new keeper, Soto.

West scored its third goal late in the second half during stoppage time when sophomore fullback Lauren Foley stole the ball and shot it past Soto to extend the Falcons’ lead to 3-0.

West improves to 7-6-1 with the win and East drops to 2-9.