Novans fall
Burrillville advances on PKs
In a Division III boys’ soccer preliminary-round tilt, Narragansett got the better of Woonsocket on Wednesday, 1-0.
BURRILLVILLE – Brian Lafuaci's philosophy when it comes to deciding who takes penalty kicks is to pick the kids who aren't necessarily the most flashy, but the kids who will show the most poise in a pressure moment.
Junior midfielder Zak Bonnell personifies that philosophy.
With the No. 9 Broncos and No. 8 Exeter-West Greenwich battling for a spot in the Division III quarterfinals, Bonnell strode to the penalty kick spot knowing if he converted, the Broncos would move on to the next round.
The kid the Broncos' playfully nicknamed 'Scrappy,' slotted a right-footed shot to the right of goalie Jacob Hart to lift the Broncos to a 0-0 (4-3) victory at Gledhill Field Wednesday afternoon.
“I'm just thinking, 'What am I supposed to do?'” Bonnell said. “I was calm, cool and collected and I knew it was just a shot from 12 yards out that I can take. I like to go that way because most people think you're going to go across the net, so I usually go to the right side. We're used to overtime, but that adrenaline is always there and you never get used to it.”
“Scrappy has gotten more and more playing time as the season has gone on,” Lafauci said. “One of the things I've always noticed with him is he can strike the ball well. He's calm and he's fundamentally sound. He's just calm and cool. He's good like that.”
No. 8 Burrillville still has a long road to reach a second straight Division III final and a third straight Division III final. The Broncos will visit Cranston Stadium tomorrow to take on a Cranston East team that started the season strong, but finished with October defeats to St. Raphael and Narragansett.
The Broncos (10-6-1 Division III) suffered a 2-1 home defeat to the Thunderbolts on Oct. 5. Lafauci said the key to winning the game is controlling the center of midfield, which means junior Paulo Melo and senior Nick Gosselin need to be the Broncos best players to compete with Kevin Murillo and the prolific Thunderbolts.
“They’re good and it’s going to be hard because they play very quick on the turf,” Lafauci said. “We’re going to have to defend well and we’re going to have to be as quick as them. When we played well against them here against them it was because we won the middle of the field.
“We need to win those 50-50 balls, so our center mids need to be great. We’re down a bunch of them, so it’s going to different than it did the last time we played them. We’re going to rely on Gosselin, we’re going to rely on Melo and Hunter [Hugeinin].”
Exeter-West Greenwich (6-6-5 Division III) scored the opening goal in the penalty shootout before Burrillville senior forward Justin Krieg blasted a shot past sophomore Jacob Hart to level the shootout.
The Knights then missed two straight kicks, as Chase Lesinski struck Ben Lamoureaux’s right post and then the Burrillville senior acrobatically dove to his right to deny Nick Baccari.
Burrillville grabbed the lead on Sean Branagan’s tally and then moved to within a goal of the win when Hugenin fired a shot to the right of Hart. EWG stayed alive when Sam Paiva scored, but that simply set the stage for Bonnell to deliver the game-winning kick.
“Going forward, we need to do exactly what we did this game,” Bonnell said of tomorrow’s assignment. “We have to play hard and play the way we play. We need to keep pressing.”
Lafauci and the Broncos are well aware of what they’re biggest challenge has been this season. Wednesday’s game marked the 13th time this season the Broncos were held under three goals and Melo was the team’s leading scorer with just six goals.
Wednesday, Lafauci went to a three-defender system to try and create more chances. The Knights were the better team in the first half, but the Broncos created the better chances in the second half and in the two five-minute overtimes.
Krieg had the three best chances for the home side, but his 58th-minute effort was saved by Hart. He fired over the net from close range in the 71st minute before scoring in the 78th minute, only for the goal to be called back because he was offside.
“I thought we created a lot of good scoring chances, but we have to finish the set plays better,” Lafauci said. “We had three or four of them where the ball cleared the box on a bounce and we didn’t get a touch on them. Those opportunities, we can’t waste. If we bury those opportunities we’ll have a chance.”