Burrillville suffers road loss to West
CRANSTON – Burrillville High seemed rather out of sorts in the opening stanza, when Division III host Cranston West ran out to a commanding seven-goal cushion at Cranston Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Head coach Pam Etheridge didn't reveal her secret as to her message to her troops at the break, except “They knew what they were doing wrong in the first half, got together and figured it out,” she stated. “It's not me, but them.”
Whatever the meeting brought to the fore worked wonders. The Broncos' defense tightened, and actually turned that into offensive chances. They outscored the Falcons, 3-1, over the final 30 minutes, though still ended up on the down side of a 9-4 verdict.
“I just told them at halftime, 'You know what you need to do. You've been working at it all season, so go out and do it, and they did,” Etheridge explained after her squad fell to 2-4 overall and in league action. “(Senior tri-captain) Mara Carlow wasn't here as she had a previous school engagement, so we were without our top defender, but – in the end – everyone stepped up and did that they needed to.
“We've been in every game we played this year outside of this one,” she added. “They've all been one- or two-goal games.”
Senior Grace Ohsberg propelled the Falcons (3-2) on this day, manufacturing a hat trick and an assist, but other key contributions came from junior Jolie Rouleau (two tallies, feed); senior Rachael Beneduce and sophomore Lexie Hammond (goal, assist); junior Cosette Lee (goal); and classmate Bella Tavares (tally).
For Burrillville, four different players achieved a goal, among them senior Kayla Berthod, sophomores Alix Etheridge and Meg Buxton and junior Caysie Gautreau.
Early in the opening session, Cranston West notched the first goal when Beneduce finished off a Rouleau assist, but BHS battled back to knot it with 9:58 elapsed. Berthod netted a steal by the left post and flicked a shot past senior keeper Grace Luker.
The Falcons, however, rallied for seven unanswered goals in the final 19:09. Rouleau snared a superb pass from Ohsberg and whistled a bouncer past Buxton (Burrillville's first-half goalie) to make it 2-1 with 12:51 gone, and Ohsberg made it 3-1 with 13:17 left after roaming in front and drilling a high try over Buxton's right shoulder.
Exactly 55 seconds later, Hammond curled around the cage, sliced in and wristed a sevenfooter under the crossbar; and – precisely three minutes after that – Rouleau looped behind the netting after accepting a feed from junior Gabby Gasbarro, hesitated, ran to the right post and ripped a high shot past Buxton to gain the 5-1
“In the second half, our defense was better down deep, and that created more offense for us.” – Pam Etheridge
lead.
Ohsberg then converted a penalty shot at 6:31, giving CW its fifth score in 10:38; Lee scored on a pass from Hammond at 3:07; and Ohsberg snapped home a feed from Beneduce with 18 ticks remaining to snare the 8-1 advantage.
Coach Etheridge chose to switch netminders during the intermission, moving from Buxton (whom she wanted in the midfield) to senior Abigail Bassett, and it paid dividends.
The Broncos immediately became more lively, as the younger Etheridge and senior Julia Mier both placed pin-point shots on Luker (seven saves). With 17:08 left in regulation, Etheridge snatched a pass from sophomore Haley LaRose, curled around the cage, drifted in front and fired an attempt past the keeper.
She nearly did the same 34 seconds later following a premier pass from Buxton, but Luker made the point-blank stop.
Tavares scored on a penalty corner with 11:05 left, extending the CW lead to 9-2, but junior Caysie Gautreau answered less than four minutes later. She gathered a turnover in front, bobbed and weaved around at least two defenders and snapped a bounder past Luker.
Buxton mustered a tally on a penalty shot with 87 seconds left in regulation, yet the Broncos fell short.
“In the second half, our defense was better down deep, and that created more offense for us,” Coach Etheridge said. “Our defense was phenomenal in the last half; they only scored a goal, and it took them almost 20 minutes to do it.
“We're just trying to build on every game we play,” she added. “They're a smart team and know what to do. We just have to carry over the momentum from this (second half).”