Falcons sweep City Cup

The Cranston Herald ·

Both Cranston City Cup soccer trophies will reside at Cranston High School West for the next year.

The girls’ soccer squad came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Cranston East, 3-1, while the boys’ team used a late goal off the head of senior Gilberto Del Valle to rise above the ’Bolts, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Cranston Stadium.

East would strike first in the opening matchup. Defender Anna Botts sent a booming shot into the box from nearly 40 yards out that just got over the fingertips of West goalkeeper Olivia Idowu in the 27th minute. It was a lead for the upset-minded, Division II ’Bolts (1-9-4) that seemed safe heading into intermission.

“It was great for the girls to prove to themselves that they can play with anyone in the state,” East girls’ soccer assistant coach Nick Ruggieri said. “We had them there for the first 35 minutes and we put our heads down and gave up those three goals. I think they sometimes don’t realize how good they are.”

The Division I Falcons have demonstrated some steely resolve all season, though, and they showed it again towards the end of the half.

Defender Katelyn Blake was awarded a free kick at the 25-yard line in the 36th minute as the Falcons searched for some momentum. She helped shift it their way with a shot that eluded the grasp of East freshman keeper Giannie Soto, tying the game at 1.

“It just took us a while to get rhythm,” West girls’ soccer head coach Jeremy Sherer said. “Once we had one, it lifted them, and they started to get their confidence, but all season we’ve been slow to start and then we find a rhythm.”

One minute later, Blake was the difference-maker again. She fed freshman Elizabeth Marses just in front of the net for an easy tally, giving West the 2-1 lead as the half waned. Senior captain Abby Souza added an insurance goal in the 39th minute to give the Falcons a commanding 3-1 advantage.

The second half was a much more defensive battle, as West refused to let East into its offensive zone. Sophomore Ryan Nebus and Blake were stalwarts on the back line, previewing what could be one of the division’s stoutest defensive pairings down the road.

Senior captain Idowu had little to worry about with the way the defense played in front of her, but she answered the bell on the rest of East’s opportunities.

Both sides graduated a multitude of seniors last year, so the new stars were able to put their talents on display this weekend. East starts several freshmen, and they were able to handle the pressure of D-I competition. Soto, despite the first-half flurry from West, was unflappable for a majority of the game against the equally young Falcons.

“We’re incredibly young,” Ruggieri said. “The record doesn’t reflect how hard these girls have worked this year and how young we are. We had freshmen starting in net, freshmen starting at stopper, two freshmen in the midfield [and] freshmen at forward. We’re young everywhere.”

East closed out the regular season with Tiverton on Tuesday afternoon, but results were unavailable at press time.

West hosts Smithfield tonight at 6:30 p.m. with a playoff spot on the line. The Falcons (4-9-2) need at least a point to have a chance at a spot in the postseason.

“I was hoping to keep improving, so hopefully we’ll take some points Thursday night and make playoffs,” Sherer said. “Ironically, Smithfield’s never beaten us. We’ve played them four times and beaten them twice and tied them twice.”

Del Valle lifts Falcons to late win

Cranston East boys’ soccer head coach Mike Grenier said it was going to take a dead ball play to decide the victor of the second City Cup contest.

His sophomore goalkeeper, Giovanni Canales, and West senior Gianluca Laurenza both played marvelous games. Each made leaping, one-handed saves and were aggressive to the ball, while both defenses gave very little space, giving off the feel of a state championship rather than a non-league showdown.

“This is everything to them, they love it,” West boys’ soccer head coach Martin Yarumian said. “This is my first year here, so very difficult to come in, on probation, these guys have gone through a lot. I’m just happy for them, happy they can celebrate this because they haven’t had a lot of this in their careers.”

West’s senior-heavy core gave it the edge over the youthful ’Bolts (4-5-5), and it only took one corner kick, that dead ball play, in the 63rd minute. Sophomore Aaron Ly placed a perfect ball into the box, where the diminutive Del Valle leaped and used his head to direct it past Canales.

“Corner kick defense has been a problem all year long for us,” Grenier said. “We just don’t stay on our mark, we’re not aggressive to the ball in the box and that’s how they scored the winner. If we were aggressive to the box, we would have cleared the ball. In the last four years at East we’ve never had a problem, but this year, with the younger guys, I just think sometimes they lack their focus.”

East had its chances to take the lead in the first half and equalize down the stretch, but the ball always found Laurenza if it made it that far. Junior Richmond Miamen had a couple of quality chances from just outside the left side of the box in the first half. He attempted to aim shots high where Laurenza couldn’t reach them, but went too far over the crossbar both times.

Freshman Kerin Murillo, who is fifth in the state with 19 points, also struggled to break free against West. The ’Bolts’ budding star, like Miamen, had a few opportunities, but was heavily contested on most of them.

Most of West’s opportunities found the hands of Canales, who was sprawling left and right to make crucial saves even after the Falcons (6-7-2) took the lead late.

“Both goalkeepers are very, very good,” Grenier said. “I think Gianluca is one of the better goalkeepers in Division II, and I think Gio’s one of the top two or three in our division. We play with a real young team, and we’ve won three of the last four years, so it’s fun to have other teams win and go back and forth.”

Now both teams shift their focus toward the postseason. West already has a playoff spot locked up, but East needs at least one point against Tiverton today at 3:30 p.m. to secure a berth.

The Falcons played to a 1-1 tie with West Warwick on Monday in their regular season finale as a run at the D-II title anxiously awaits.

“We must train, we have a lot to work on,” Yarumian said. “This is okay, we had good stuff here, good moments, but we need to get better. Whatever happens, happens, it’s high school soccer. We enjoy it, [but] this is the stuff we play for, though.”