Midway through the 2015 season, the Johnston girls’ soccer team is right where it wants to be after a 3-0 victory over a tough Cranston East team last Thursday night at home.

With the victory, the Panthers, who have 21 points overall, upped their Division III-A record to 7-1. They vaulted over West Warwick, which has compiled 19 overall points with a 6-0-1 record, for first place. The ‘Bolts fall to 1-6-1 with eight games remaining for both teams. JHS beat East the previous week by a score of 5-2 at Cranston Stadium.

Just 5 1/2 minutes into the game, a key player for the ‘Bolts, Anna Botts, suffered an injury and was helped off the field. She would not return. Injuries have plagued this ‘Bolts team from the very beginning of the season according to East head coach Scott Maynard.

“Anna Botts is just a sophomore and it was a huge loss for us early in the game when she went down, she played every game for us last year as a freshman,” Maynard said. “This is what has happened to us all year, at one point in the season we were down nine players due to injury and we were starting JV players. We lost some players because of injuries in our first game and it’s been catch-up ever since.”

The game remained scoreless until Johnston’s Gabriella Scarcella found the back of the East net at the 10:03 mark of the first half. Bianca Robbins made the goal possible with the assist. East goalkeeper Stephanie Groccia kept her team in the game as she made some spectacular saves throughout the game. She would finish the game with 25 saves while her JHS counterpart Jordan McHale would only see three shots-on-goal.

“She is a scrappy girl,” Maynard said of Groccia. “She is good on the ground as well as coming off the line. She is very solid back there and she keeps us in games.”

Johnston would take a 1-0 lead into the half. The Panthers increased their lead to 2-0 when Daniella DeAngelis scored on a breakaway at the 36:29 mark of the second half. Robbins gave her team an insurance goal two minutes later, assisted by Samantha Hardman. It was Robbins’ 13th goal of the season, which puts her in the top-3 in goals scored in the state this year.

Johnston head coach Tim Sprouls was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We have been trying to develop a possession oriented style of play, that is our game,” he said. “We do not just kick the ball down the field and chase it. It has been a three-year project and tonight was our best game in regards to our passing and possession. I am proud of the girls in the effort they put into this game and we did play our best game against a good Cranston East team. “I would have liked to have seen more goals but East’s goaltender made some amazing saves. I am very happy with my team, they work and practice hard and have the philosophy of possession. We have some big games coming up.”

Sprouls credited his defensive backfield for much of the success of this year’s team.

He said, “Everybody plays their role on this team, the defensive back-four are playing outstanding and I can’t take them off the field because they are so dependable. Jenna Pizzi, Jessica Cabral, Lauren Messier and Lindsey Frein have played immensely and they are the ones who prevent the other teams from scoring. We have trained our fullbacks to play up and get involved in the offense and it has been effective. We had more players on the offensive side trying to control the ball.”

Sprouls also said his freshman have made a big impact on this team.

“Gabby Scarcella is an excellent player and Bianca Robbins is our leading scoring, but we have four freshman that have made this team a lot stronger. This is our year, we have 10 seniors and there is no wait until next year.”

Despite the loss, Maynard remained optimistic about the postseason.

“Playoffs are not out of the question,” he said. “We have half the season left and hope to get some injured players back soon and get more firepower.”

The Panthers will host Central High School this Saturday night at 7 p.m. Cranston East will host Middletown High School next Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Cranston Stadium.