Patriots too much for CF; still unbeaten
Ivelisse Martinez scores 4 goals in rout of Warriors
LINCOLN – Davies Tech head coach Susan Brassard doesn’t like talking much about sophomore Ivelisse Martinez, at least not to the press. Apparently, she wants to keep her immense talent a secret from upcoming opponents, and – really – who can blame her?
“She’s very young, only a sophomore, and she’s quite skilled,” Brassard said. “She’s beyond her years. I won’t say anything more.”
Central Falls mentor Kirk Hamel saw plenty of Martinez during his Division III clash against the Patriots on Thursday afternoon – in fact, too much for his liking. The standout notched four goals to help her teammates claim an up-and-down 7-2 affair before just over 40 fans on the Tech turf.
“Once Ivey (pronounced E-vee) figures out the other team’s less skilled players, she’s phenomenal; she’ll take complete advantage,” he said. “In he second half, she scored three amazing goals from all over the field, and far out. That’s because she’ll dribble in, get by the defense, hesitate and then launch it 20-plus yards into the net.
“She reminds me of the girl from East Providence, Grace Abrams. Both are terrific athletes.”
With the triumph, Davies improved to a perfect 6-0-0 in league action, while the Warriors fell to 1-4-0.
The Pats controlled the tempo for most of the contest, excepting a hiccup in the initial 10-12 minutes of the final session. All told, the hosts outshot CF, 19-10, and DT senior keeper Maddie Brassard closed with eight saves. For the visitors, sophomore Dakota Aguilar managed a dozen.
“A lot of our success has come from our pre-season,” Coach Brassard stated afterward. “We were running, running, then doing more running. We had two goals before the season started, and that was to be in better shape than any other team we’d face, and to work on our footwork every day.
“That means changing direction instead of just kicking the ball out; I wanted the girls to possess the ball more and look for the open player,” she added. “I’m fairly satisfied with this effort, though we had some lows. They tended to bunch together on occasion, but they listened to the coaches, let themselves be reminded to play their positions.
“They made the proper adjustments, and – in the second half – they communicated better with each other.”
Davies needed little time to take the early lead, as – only six minutes after the opening boot – officials awarded senior Alyza Martinez a left- side corner kick. She roped a liner into the fray in front, and someone knocked it home. In the end, it went as an own goal, or one off a CF girl.
Less than two minutes later, senior Julianne Desautel rang one off the crossbar, and Aguilar twice robbed Patriot from recording a tally.
That ended at the midpoint of the stanza; senior Miquela Teixeira sprinted downfield on a break, juked fleet-footed senior defender Stephanie Vicente and slid a try inside the left post to make it 2-0.
Eight minutes later, Ivey Martinez converted a pass from Teixeira, drilling it into the far left corner; and Desautel finished off Alyza Martinez’ right-side corner with a simple poke.
The Pats actually could have held a larger lead at the break, but Aguilar stoned Ivey Martinez’ two stellar tries over the final 90 seconds.
Despite the lopsided score at halftime, the Warriors came out on fire in the second. Less than five minutes into the new session, senior Marilin Sanchez worked extremely hard to get around a pair of defenders by the left sideline, broke free and sent a pass to junior Dulcinea Burgo, who smoked it past the left post.
In the 50th minute, CF sliced the deficit to 4-2 when a Tech fullback was whistled for a hand ball in the penalty box. Sanchez calmly whacked it past a diving Brassard.
Perhaps three minutes later, Ivey Martinez took a long pass into the offensive zone, and had clear sailing to attempt a shot at Aguilar. Just as her right leg had begun her downswing, Vicente knocked her off-balance.
After that, though, the Pats controlled it. Ivey Martinez scored on a break at 61 minutes, converted Megan McKenna’s pass in the 66th and managed her last in the 77th. That, too, was unassisted.
“In the first half, we just had a lack of anticipation on the offensive side,” Hamel noted. “We had problems telling where the ball was going; the dots were connected. Our girls have been having issues taking lone angles on their runs because we don’t have a full-length practice field.”
(That’s due to the fact that Macomber Stadium’s soil has been deemed unsafe for athletic play, and the Francis Corrigan Athletic Complex turf needs some wotk. Hamel indicated he and his kids practice every day in a corner of said field.)
“I still say we’re getting better at it, but it will take some time.”