The last two City Cup games between the Cranston East and Cranston West girls’ soccer teams were decided by a single goal. The 2014 match-up on Sunday afternoon at Cranston Stadium was shaping up to take a similar path, as the Division I Falcons and the Division III ’Bolts went back-and-forth for much of the first half.

Then West started playing the brand of soccer it wanted.

And a one-goal margin was left in the dust.

Eleni Grammas scored four goals as West won the City Cup for the 12th consecutive year with a 6-0 victory over East. The Falcons scored two goals off scrambles in front of the net late in the first half then really hit their stride after the break, using their patient, possession-oriented attack to blow the game open.

“I think the second half was a much better half,” said West head coach Jeremy Sherer. “You have to keep the ball on the floor and in the second half, I think we did that. We kept it there, we used our outside backs more and we played like a Division I team, not like a Division III team. We had a good rotation and we got contributions from everybody. I’m happy for them.”

The victory is West’s third in its last five games, after it opened the year without a win in its first nine games. Sunday’s victory doesn’t count in the league standings, but hoisting the City Cup is always special. Doing it while continuing the positive trends of the last few weeks was even better.

“Three wins, one tie, one loss in our last five,” Sherer said. “It seems as if it’s starting to take hold. They’re starting to get it.”

Cranston East, which is 3-4-4 in D-III, was hoping to stay with West like it has in each of the last two meetings, but couldn’t keep up, especially in the second half.

“The wheels fell off in the second half,” said East head coach Scott Maynard. “We gave them too much space and they took advantage. It’s different when you play a D-I team. The pace of the game is different and that’s what you could see in the second half. We gave them too much space and they moved the ball quickly. We weren’t able to recover enough.”

The game was scoreless into the 28th minute, when West took advantage of a scrum in the box. After Gabby Caruso played the ball in, it bounced around between two defenders, two West players and East goalie Stephanie Groccia. Eventually, the ball ended up in the net. Grammas was credited with the goal.

“Crash the net and see what happens,” Grammas said.

West did the same thing eight minutes later. A cross by Kate Capuano sailed off the tip Groccia’s out-stretched hands at the left post. The ball caromed to the far post, where Grammas knocked it in just before a diving Groccia could get to it.

West carried the 2-0 lead into the second half. East had its best chance of the day in the early going, when Alex Bowden slipped a diagonal pass from the top of the box to the right wing. Alexis Alves had the ball with a good look at the goal, but her shot hit the side of the net.

“Coming up with quality offensive chances has been the thing we’ve had to overcome this year,” Maynard said. “We’re really good in the first two-thirds of the field. It’s just that last touch going into goal.”

From there, it was all West.

Grammas punched in a cross from Haley Nardolillo in the 57th minute. Just over two minutes later, Nardolillo set up Caruso for a goal and the 4-0 lead.

With under 10 minutes left, Capuano scored a goal after chasing down a long lead pass. Grammas then put the finishing touches on the victory with her fourth goal, off an assist from Caruso.

“I’m really excited because I’ve never scored a goal in City Cup before,” Grammas said. It was always my goal to score one. So four is great. We all worked really hard. We centered the ball well and we played simple.”

West celebrated the victory but will quickly turn its attention to its last four games. The Falcons are 2-8-3 but could find a way into the playoffs with a big finish.

“It’s going to be tough. Bay View, us, Lincoln, NK and Prout are the bottom five and it’s like one game between all of us,” Sherer said. “It could come down to the wire.”

East will also try to finish strong. It’s looking for a return to the D-III playoffs after two tough years in Division II.

“The bigger picture is we’ve got the potential to go into the playoffs and I think we’ve played everybody very well,” Maynard said. “If we make it in, we’ll see what we can do.”