First-place Northmen run away from Mount
NORTH SMITHFIELD — After losing its first game of the season last month to Cranston East, the North Smithfield boys soccer team has responded with three consecutive dominating home performances.
After West Warwick and Narragansett were summarily sent packing with lopsided defeats, Mount St. Charles made the short trip down Route 104 and found out quickly why the Division II regular-season title goes through North Smithfield.
The Decelles brothers – Bryan and Justin – scored three goals inside the first 23 minutes of Tuesday’s Blackstone Valley clash, and the Northmen continued to score in the opening half. North Smithfield secured an 7-1 victory to move three points clear of Wheeler at the top of the division.
“Prior to this game, we were not making the most out of our opportunities because we’re taking lots of shots and not scoring enough,” North Smithfield coach Eric Korytkowski said. “This was the best we’ve done at finishing. We have guys in the right place at the right time, but we don’t finish, and they did that. That game is everything we’ve been working on. Mount came out hungry, but we moved the ball and forced them to move a lot, which wore them down.”
North Smithfield (9-1 Division II) has now won four straight games headed into Friday’s home match against local foe Davies Tech Friday afternoon. The Northmen still have important contests left on the road at rival Burrillville next Wednesday afternoon and a home match against second-place Wheeler on Oct. 22.
Mount St. Charles (1-8-1 Division II) won its first league contest last week behind three goals from Tom Burke, but the Mounties followed that match up with defeats to the top team in Division III (St. Raphael, 2-1) and the Northmen.
The Northmen, who played close games with the Mounties in each of the last two seasons, needed just five minutes to put the visitors in a hole they could never dig out of. Senior midfielder Riley Crozier played a low cross to the right side of the box where Justin Decelles was on hand to slide in his 10th goal in 10 games.
North Smithfield continued to apply pressure to Mount and it paid off in the 18th minute when Kyle Alves corralled a ball in the penalty box and played a back heel right to Bryan Decelles for his third goal of the season. Decelles scored his second goal five minutes later to put the hosts up 3-0.
“I think that’s what makes us as good as we are,” Korytkowski said of his team’s of- fensive balance. “I don’t know if we have a dominant player like Cranston East and Wheeler, but that’s a good thing. If you want to take one of our guys away, we have Riley, [Michael] Fernandes and [Michael] deRonde who can score. Bryan gives us that left-footed option.”
Kyle Karspeck, Fernandes, Jackson Laferriere and Alves added goals for the hosts, while Martin Piette produced a penalty kick in the 55th minute for Mount’s only goal. Mount St. Charles 0 1 - 1
North Smithfield 5 2 -7
First half – NS, Justin Decelles (Riley Crozier), 5:00; NS, Bryan Decelles (Kyle Alves), 18:00; Bryan Decelles (unassisted), 23:00; NS, Kyle Karspeck (Crozier), 29:00; NS, Michael Fernandes (Dan Beauchemin), 37:00.
Second half – MSC, Martin Piette (penalty kick) 55:00; NS, Jackson Laferriere (Michael Duffy), 62:00; NS, Alves (unassisted), 68:00. Saves – MSC, Nick Platek (5 saves), Andrew Maneca (4 saves); NS, Aidan Richer (2 saves); Cam Ferra ( 0 saves).