No. 1 Saints put away Spartans to advance
Undefeated St. Raphael faces Tiverton Thursday for spot in final
PAWTUCKET – As soon as the lead official’s whistle blew late Saturday evening, signifying the end of the game, St. Raphael Academy sophomore Diego Romero collapsed in a heap to the Max Read Field turf near midfield.
It appeared the act was merely his reaction to his top-ranked Saints moving one step closer to their collective goal – that is, a R.I. Division III Tournament state championship. They accomplished that with a wild and windy 5-1 quarterfinal-round victory over ninth-seeded Scituate High before perhaps 100 folks.
But that was only part of it. “Why? Two things,” Romero grinned after the contest, one that improved SRA to 17-0-1 overall and also clinched for it a semifinal berth opposite No. 5 Tiverton at Johnston High School at 5:30 p.m., Thursday. “First, it was a tough game, and I was injured. My hip flexor was killing me, but I was also happy we won the game.
“We’ve been pointing toward this the whole year.”
Head coach Frank Balcarcel’s bunch has suffered its fair share of agonizing defeats over the past two-three seasons, yet he’s hoping this campaign will be different. The first step on the ladder occurred here in a virtual wind tunnel.
“There were times the wind was calm, and others, it was pure craziness,” Balcarcel stated as his Saints celebrated around him despite a wind chill that felt like 25 – or worse. “Sometimes, the gusts were like 25, 30, even 45 mph. We ended up with the wind advantage in the first half, but actually, it didn’t help us.
“We’re the kind of team that likes to play on the ground, and there were times when the wind died down and it was easier; that made it easier to find our forwards’ feet,” he continued. “When it picked up, no one knew where it was going to go.”
Senior Max Rodriguez-Cepparo closed with two goals and a feed, while junior speedster Jeff Codman managed a pair of tallies and senior Cano Morales the other.
Classmate Ben Senra and junior Dylan Polion posted the other two assists.
The Saints needed just 9:51 after the opening touch to penetrate the cage, that when Rodriguez-Cepparo converted Senra’s pass. And, exactly 5:10 later, he and Polion hooked up to give the hosts the 2-0 lead.
And, still on the early side of the midway point of the first half, Codman ripped home Rodriguez-Cepparo’s pin-point pass to make it 3-0 before the break.
It appeared that the Spartans (10-8-0 overall) would have the same kind of wind aid the Saints did over the initial 40 minutes at the start of the second, but that wasn’t the case – at least not right away.
With only 5:25 elapsed in that period, the ball bounced around, ended up on Morales’ foot on the right side of the field, and he hammered a low rope past senior Max Pierce for the 4-0 booster shot.
Not even five minutes later, officials whistled an SRA defender for a hand ball in his own penalty box, yielding Scituate a penalty kick. Senior Dan Costello curled his point-blank kick to junior Emiliano Munguia’s right, while he dove left.
That made it 4-1.
The final goal, though, came in both unusual and phenomenal fashion. Codman lined up for a left-side corner kick with 12:02 remaining in regulation; he smoked a long, high curler seemingly destined for the middle/right side of the box.
Somehow, however, it drifted back in toward the goal line, caromed off the right post and – incredibly – the netting for the fifth and final tally.
Munguia managed three saves, while Pierce earned 10.
“It must have been the wind,” Balcarcel said, “working for us in both directions!
“That was crazy,” he added. “For the first 15 minutes, Scituate parked the bus in the box; it was doing everything it could (to keep the ball out of the net), and it was working. We couldn’t do anything.
“But then we scored the first, and it seemed to open everything up.”
Scituate 0–1 –1
St. Raphael 3–2 –5
First half: SRA – Max Rodriguez- Cepparo (Ben Senra) 9:51; SRA – Rodriguez- Cepparo (Dylan Polion) 15:01; SRA – Jeff Codman (Rodriguez- Cepparo) 19:50.
Second half: SRA – Cano Morales (una.) 45:25; S – Dan Costello (penalty shot) 50:17; SRA – Codman (una.) 67:58.