'Bolts fall in close battle with unbeaten Broncos

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 9/13/17

The Cranston East Lady Thunderbolts soccer squad fell to the Burrillville Broncos, 3-1, on Monday afternoon at Cranston Stadium. The 'Bolts fell to 1-3 with the loss and Burrillville stayed perfect, improving to 3-0.

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'Bolts fall in close battle with unbeaten Broncos

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The Cranston East Lady Thunderbolts soccer squad fell to the Burrillville Broncos, 3-1, on Monday afternoon at Cranston Stadium. The ’Bolts fell to 1-3 with the loss and Burrillville stayed perfect, improving to 3-0.

Senior Crystal Santana had the lone goal for the ’Bolts, and the assist came from Anna Botts. Sophomore Giannie Soto was sensational in net for East, stopping 16 of the 19 shots that were fired at her.

Victoria Patriarca had two goals for Burrillville, while her teammate, Jocelyn Valliere, chipped in a goal and an assist.

The ’Bolts hung with Burrillville for most of the game, but late in the first period, they let up their guard a bit.

“We had two minutes of bad play in the first half,” East head coach Scott Maynard said. “When we got under the two minute mark, we let our guard down and they snuck in two fast ones, which is unfortunate because I think we played them fairly even for most of the first half. And then we played them 1-1 in the second half. So, it could have ended as a tie and it would’ve been a nice tie for us.”

East’s Soto saw a lot of shots to begin the game.

Forty-four seconds in, Burrillville’s Valliere fired a shot on net that was blocked by Soto. Shortly after, Burrillville’s Elizabeth Ethier tried to set up a score when she passed in front, but there was no one around to receive it and the ball sailed out of bounds.

A little later, East’s Reagan Rojek shot from deep, but Burrillville goalkeeper Nicole Ethier quickly scooped it up and kicked it away.

With 32:10 remaining in the first half, Burrillville’s Patriarca had a shot denied by Soto. Two minutes later, Aliza Richard and Patriarca had a give-and-go that ended with Patriarca seeing her shot turned away by Soto. Three minutes later, Soto stopped a shot from Kayley Lafond. A minute and a half after that, Lafond passed to Patriarca on a fast break, but Soto came out of the net and grabbed the ball, preventing Patriarca from getting off a shot.

“Giannie (Soto) played a great game,” Maynard said. “We’ve been working on her coming off her line; trying to read when it was a 50/50 ball for her to go for it and when she needed to hold her line, and I think she did it exceptionally well today. And then we’ve been working on her punting, and that clearly makes a difference when you’re putting it over midfield. She was getting all of the ball today when she was serving it, so it was good.”

With 7:26 remaining in the half, Hope Halvarson deked in front and went on a breakaway, but Nicole Ethier made a tremendous save to keep the game scoreless.

With 2:01 remaining in the half, Valliere sprinted past a pair of East defenders and put it past Soto to give Burrillville a 1-0 lead. A minute after that, Valliere found Patriarca in front for a goal, putting Burrillville up 2-0 heading into halftime.

Burrillville went on the attack early in the second half, and Valliere was denied by Soto before Patriarca had her opportunity knocked away by Arianna Cardona. Shortly after, a corner kick from Patriarca was headed by Elizabeth Ethier in front before it went wide of the net. A minute later, Valliere fired high, but Soto leaped up and swatted it away. Seconds after that, Soto blocked a corner kick with her hands and then denied the rebound attempt from Samantha Prario.

Burrillville kept on the attack, and a minute later, Prario fired high over the net before Valliere put the next shot off of the crossbar with 30:34 to play.

East got on the board with 28:59 to play. Botts booted a shot from midfield that deflected off of the goalie and then Santana swooped in and scored on the rebound, pulling the ’Bolts within 2-1.

Cranston had a chance to tie it with 3:15 left, but Jaelin Vallee’s corner kick was denied by the Burrillville goalkeeper.

After that, Valliere had a corner kick blocked by Soto before Patriarca grabbed the offensive rebound and scored with 2:02 to play.

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