Saints move into 1st place in D-III
St. Raphael pulls away from EWG
PAWTUCKET – Apparently, St. Raphael Academy didn’t give much thought to hyping up its pivotal Division III clash with league-leading Exeter/West Greenwich High on Friday afternoon, despite the fact the Scarlet Knights came to town with a near flawless 11-1-0 record.
“We knew it was a big game coming in because they were actually in first place in the division, but we honestly just talked about playing our game and doing what we do beforehand,” stated senior tri-captain Dylan Polion. “We didn’t try to make it bigger than it was. Coach told us (Thursday) that it was a big game, probably the biggest of the games we have left in the regular season, but that’s all. “It wasn’t live or die.” To be blunt, the Saints “lived” – and then some – during their 4-2 thrashing of the Scarlet Knights at the McKinnon-Alves Complex. And, yes, it was a thrashing, pummeling or any other noun one could use to describe it.
Polion finished with two goals and an assist, while fellow captain Eddie Cardona closed with a score and an assist. Second, SRA outscored the skilled Scarlet Knights, 3-0, in the opening half alone and made it 4-0 on Cardona’s lone tally less than three minutes into the second session.
And third, Sagastume received outstanding defensive play from Uriel Martinez, Julian Giraldo, Anoine Serena, Danny Flynn, Jeff Codman and Spencer Hsu.
With the triumph, the hosts improved to 11-1-1 overall, while EWG fell to 11-2-0.
“To us, it was just another game,” Sagastume said. “At the end of the day, we’re in the playoffs, regardless what we did (Friday), so the regular-season thing, the championship, that doesn’t necessarily thrill us. That’s not what we’re focused on. We don’t really care about it; we just wanted to make the playoffs. As you know, anything can happen when you get there. It doesn’t matter what seed you’re in.
“The guys were gritty and worked hard (Friday), and that’s what I like about them; that’s the kind of attitude I’m looking for,” he added. “The big motivator for us was, we didn’t play very well against Blackstone Valley Prep Wednesday; we didn’t do a good job in our final third (of the field). We did well building the play and swinging the ball around, but we didn’t attack too well.
“Over the next couple of days, we designed our sessions to fit those scenarios and patterns of play that we wanted to see offensively, and the kids executed what we did during that training. It was satisfying to see.”
As for the game itself, Polion and Codman hooked up on the first goal just six minutes after the opening pass, and Polion converted a feed from Cardona about nine minutes later to make it 2-0.
With 11:17 remaining before the break, Hsu finished off a pass from Bautista, and – only 2:46 into the final stanza – Cardona and Polion teamed up again for the 4-0 advantage.
The Knights finally got on the board at the midway point of the half when the multi-talented Cian Purcell hustled down field on a partial breakaway, out-sprinted a defender and drilled a 20-yarder past SRA keeper Emiliano Munguia (seven saves) to ruin the shutout bid.
EWG produced a few other stellar chances to push another one in, courtesy of passes through the box, but its players weren’t in the right place at the right time.
For his part, Munguia made a pair of sterling saves on Purcell late in the contest, but he made a mistake in the final minute. That’s when an official called him for an overly-aggressive play against Purcell in the penalty box, issued him a yellow card and told him he would have to sit out the penalty shot.
Purcell fired a high liner past Hsu for the Knights’ final goal.
**
Exeter/West Greenwich 0 – 2 – 2
St. Raphael 3–1–4
First half: SRA – Dylan Polion (Jeff Codman) 6:11; SRA – Polion (Eddie Cardona) 15:04; SRA – Spencer Hsu (Alex Bautista) 28:43.
Second half: SRA – Cardona (Polion) 42:46; EWG – Cian Purcell (una.) 59:47; EWG – Purcell (penalty kick) 79:38. Shots on goal: Exeter/West Greenwich 9, St. Raphael 11. Goalie saves: Noah Dowhan (EWG) 7, Emiliano Munguia (SRA) 7.