Tziachris leads Cumberland past Burrillville
Senior nets hat trick, delivers assist in Clippers’ Division I victory over Broncos
BURRILLVILLE — In her four seasons as a starter on the Cumberland girls soccer team, All-State midfielder Emma Tziachris has nearly seen it all.
From playing central defense on a team that went all the way to the state title game as a freshman, to becoming the hub of a very inexperienced squad last season, Tzaichris has experienced plenty of highs and lows on the field.
This season, Tziachris and the Clippers are hoping to build off a 2017 campaign where a number of talented freshmen and sophomores earned valuable varsity time on a playoff team. The results through the first four games haven’t met coach John Hoxsie’s expectations, but Monday’s 5-0 victory over Burrill- ville could be a start of good things to come for the Clippers.
“We didn’t have a rebuilding year last year, but it was a year where we had a lot of new girls come into the program,” Tziachris said after scoring a hat trick and delivering an assist in the victory at Gledhill Field. “It’s nice to know these girls are now a year older and they kind of get the hang of the game. They can play and we also have some really talented freshmen. We want to win, but we’re trying to get these freshmen ready for the future.”
“I think we’re struggling a little bit right now because we’re not meeting the expectations we have set because we basically have the same team back from last year,” Hoxsie said.
“We’ve blown some leads and we haven’t played well at times. The girls know it and they agree. We have work to do, but we’re young – of the 18 girls, nine are freshmen or sophomores.”
Cumberland (2-1-1 Division I) threw away the lead in a 4-4 tie with Division I newcomer Scituate to start the season before going to East Providence and defeating rebuilding Bay View Academy 2-1. The Clippers suffered their first loss of the season Saturday to Barrington, 3-0, before rebounding against the Broncos.
The best piece of news to come out of the win was the shutout produced by sophomore Juliette Vemmer. Cumberland only had one shutout last season and it came in a 0-0 tie with the Eagles. Led by junior Abby Free, the Clipper defense held Burrillville to just two shots on net.
“There’s games where you can get shutouts and we sometimes find ways to lose that,” Hoxsie said. “To me, that’s frustrating because I want to see a zero on the scoreboard. I’m happy with that. Hopefully we will see more of that. There’s a lot of upside and a lot of positive stuff we can build off.”
Burrillville (1-4 Division I) was shutout for the third time in five games, but the Broncos did pick up their first victory of the season last week in a 3-2 victory over Cranston West. Unlike the other four games of the season where they gave up a goal early and trailed the whole contest, the Broncos scored in the second minute thanks to a set-piece goal from Jamie Loynds.
Loynds finished the contest with a pair of goals and senior midfielder Rebecca Hetu chipped in with a goal.
“We switched things around with our formation, but the big thing was we played from ahead,” Burrillville coach Jeff Lavigne said of the win over the Falcons. “That goal was the first goal we’ve ever scored in Division I and it gave us some life. We fought back twice when they tied the game – it was that fight and belief they had after getting ahead early.”
Monday, it was Cumberland which jumped ahead early and never looked back. Tziachris looped an aimless ball into the box that bounced in front of sophomore goalie Emily Weekly and went into the net in just the ninth minute.
Burrillville continued to play well, but a mistake in the penalty box led to a penalty shot and Tziachris calmly slotted the shot to the left of Weekly. Tziachris had been eying Division I colleges, but the senior said she’s going to play Division III soccer at one of four schools. She’s deciding between a pair of schools in Ohio, Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
“I didn’t really like the lecture hall settings where you have classes with 500 kids and that’s what you have at a lot of the Division I schools,” Tzaichris said. “I didn’t feel comfortable. I switched up my recruiting kind of late, but the coaches have focused on me as a person first and academics before soccer. I love that because I could always get hurt and not play.”
Freshman Paige Vieira found Tziachris with a short pass in the penalty box to help the senior finish off the hat trick in the 37th minute. Tziachris produced an assist in the 59th minute when her corner kick was directed into the net by senior Rebecca Cipolla for her first varsity goal.
“Emma’s a leader out there,” Hoxsie said. “She’s so calm on the ball and so creative on the ball. The balls that she puts through, nine out of 10 of them are perfect. Having her out their in that attacking mid role, we need to get that offense clicking more. She’s a great start for that.”
Olivia Sarmento, after a short pass from Vieira, finished the scoring with a superb right-fiooted shot from outside the box for a Cumberland team that hosts Cranston West Friday night.
Burrillville is also back in action Friday against one-win East Greenwich. Lavigne knows the key for his squad is to jump ahead so the Broncos can dictate the pace of the game.
“We’re just giving up easy, soft goals and we’re constantly on the back foot,” Lavigne said. “That puts everybody under pressure and makes us throw more girls into our attack. That is something they’re getting used to because for years they’ve been playing from ahead. Now, every game we’re playing from behind and we leave ourselves open at the back.”
Cumberland 5, Burrillville 0
Cumberland 32 -5
Burrillville 00 -0
First half – C, Emma Tziachris (Maddy Durkin), 9:00; C, Tziachris (penalty kick), 29:00; C, Tziachris (Paige Vieira), 37:00.
Second half – C, Rebecca Cipolla (Tziachris), 59:00; C, Olivia Sarmento (Vieira), 71:00.
Saves – C, Juliette Vemmer (2 saves); B, Emily Weekly (7 saves).