Alves’ first varsity goal earns Northmen tie

North Smithfield happy with draw vs. talented Wheeler

NORTH SMITHFIELD — North Smithfield boys soccer coach Eric Korytkowski felt conflicted when the halftime whistle blew Monday night against undefeated Wheeler.

Korytkowski was frustrated with the way his team played for the first 40 minutes, but he was also happy because the talented Warriors only took advantage of the Northmen’s indifferent play one time on a Henry Bush header past goalie Adam Blakemore.

The Northmen improved considerably in the second half and walked off the field with a deserved point when senior midfielder Riley Crozier played a perfect through ball for sophomore Kyle Alves. Alves fired a shot off of goalie Peter Pond’s left post before the ball nestled into the far-side netting to secure a 1-1 tie.

“When we play our style of soccer, which is possess the ball and make the other team run around, we’re good,” Korytkowski said. “In the first half we took too long to make decisions, so they swarmed us and we turned the ball over. We were playing with our backs against our net the entire first half.

“When stuff like that happens, teams are bound to score goals. We were lucky to only be down a goal. The guys stuck it out in the second half and we played our game.”

North Smithfield (2-1-2 Division II) is now unbeaten in the last three games and Blakemore has allowed just one combined goal in those contests.

Korytkowski said the biggest difference between the team that lost to Smithfield a few weeks ago and the current group is defense.

Seniors defender Jacob Labonte and Quintyn Anderson along with sophomore defender Daniel Beauchemin have been integral in helping the Northmen climb into the top half of the standings.

“Our defense really starts that trend,” Korytkowski said. “When our defense gets control of the ball and doesn’t just kick the ball all over the place, Riley and Mike (deRonde) can dominate the game. That all starts in the back with our defenders.”

Wheeler (3-0-2 Division II) has had no trouble adjusting to life in the Interscholastic League. Alves’ goal was the first Pond has allowed this season, but the Warriors still haven’t played reigning champion Moses Brown, Smithfield, Cranston West or Mt. Hope.

While the Warriors dominated long stretches of the opening half, it was the Northmen who actually had the first scoring opportunity. Crozier played a through ball to speedy forward Justin Decelles. The junior’s first touch was perfect, but his second touch was far too long and Pond raced off his line to clear away the ball.

The ball was in the Northmen net just four minutes later as Jamey Mayer gained the byline on his defender and sailed a perfect cross to the far post where Bush was on hand to head it past Blakemore.

Wheeler continued to control the half and create opportunities thanks to its wide play, but the Northmen managed to regroup at halftime trailing by just a goal.

“When you play a good team like that and you play the way we did, you’re ussually down 2- or 3-nothing at halftime,” Korytkowski said. ‘The guys stuck it out into the second half.”

deRonde and Decelles both had scoring chances in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but it was a swing player who swung the game in favor of the home side. Alves, who only plays one half of varsity games so he can play the entire JV game, stepped on to the field and immediately made a difference.

Crozier spotted Alves running between Wheeler’s central defenders and played a ball down the right for- ward channel. Alves’ first touch took him wide of Pond, but his acute-angle shot cannoned off of the post and sailed into the net.

“He’s got some speed up front,” Korytkowski said. “We’ll take whatever we can get up there. For our offense to be the first team to score on them is a pretty good sign.”

The Northmen hope to build on their play in the second half headed into Thursday’s game against struggling West Warwick.

“I think Division II is very strong top to bottom, but the last few games have been good for us because we saw balls go into the back of the net,” Korytkowski said. “I really can see us finishing in the top five. We’re starting to see where we land and I feel like if we played Mount St. Charles again I think we can take them. We’re getting better.”