By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston West girls soccer team fell to Pilgrim 4-1 in the Division I Quarterfinals last week in East Greenwich.

Despite holding Pilgrim to a 1-0 lead in the first half, the Pats would surge in the second and cruise to the 4-1 decision.

Emily Webb scored West’s lone goal in the loss and was assisted by Julia Robbins. Freshman keeper Carmyn Acarregui recorded nine saves in net for the Falcons.

Alanna Coffie led Pilgrim with three goals while Gillian Brown added another.

The Lady Falcons finished the season with a 2-3-1 overall record. Coach Jeremy Sherer was happy to see the girls get to play this fall and compete against Pilgrim, who went on to reach the state championship game.

“Everyone including myself was just thrilled to be able to get back out on the field and play. No one was really sure each day if the season would last, so overall we were excited about it. The seeding was a little disappointing since it was a six-game season and two of our games were cancelled because of COVID. Pilgrim played well and deserved to beat us, but one thing you want is a chance to get homefield advantage,” said Sherer.

The Falcons had one of the younger rosters in Division I this season, with only three seniors and a large group of underclassmen. Sherer feels that the program has been heading in the right direction over the past few seasons and will be poised to take another step forward next year.

“The last four years we have inched our way closer. We were in the quarters this year, last year we were in the quarters, but we’re getting better. I don’t want to drop to Division II, we belong in Division I. We’ve been competitive and don’t ever get blown out. The score was not reflective of how close the game was (against Pilgrim), we had a chance against La Salle but didn’t have the depth in the second half. We are very competitive,” said Sherer.

Sherer also hopes that this year’s experience will help the club going forward as well.

“We were young this year with a freshman keeper who did very well and will certainly grow, we only had three seniors and the bulk of our starters were sophomores and juniors. We will have a great returning team,” said Sherer. “Being able to be calm under pressure (will be key). Pilgrim is a grass team and we are a turf team. They had the advantage early and we panicked. I think the juniors we have will understand that a lot of this is mental and that it is about who is the better team on that particular day.”