Mariners prove too much for shorthanded Raiders

PAWTUCKET — When Shea High senior center-midfielder/captain Jayde Fernandes went down with an apparent high-ankle sprain in the first six minutes of its R.I. Division III Tournament quarterfinal contest opposite Narragansett at Max Read Field on chilly Saturday night, that pretty much spelled the Raiders’ doom.

At least that was the consensus of veteran head coach Yianiss Noel, though Fernandes herself wouldn’t refute the claim.

“I was going for the ball on our offensive side of the field, and she came in from the side to try to get the ball; she ended up jamming her foot into my ankle,” a shivering Fernandes stated after her fourth-ranked club sustained a 5-1 loss to the fourth-ranked Mariners, one that closed its campaign at 12-3-2.

“It was so frustrating; I couldn’t do anything to help my team.”

Offered Noel of the mishap: “It changed the whole dynamic of the game. She’s the state’s assists leader with 22, and she’s a primary distributor of the ball.

“When you lose that for the game, you lose the anchor.”

Despite the defeat, he insisted this regular season was a resounding success.

“I think our last winning year was in 2013 (and it was, courtesy of a 12-3-1 record in III-B), so this was our best in a very long time,” he mentioned. “When we played them last time (on Sept. 12), we tied, 2-2, but we were winning 2-0. After that, we made some terrible, terrible mistakes.

“(Narragansett) knew it was lucky to finish in a tie,” he added. “Last year, we lost to them, 8-1, so we came into that game (fired up). We were ahead, but we made two fatal mistakes … In this one, it was just a bad day. Sometimes you have them, and we had one here. We missed two open nets in the first five-10 minutes.

“We were dominating play, I thought, and had them on their heels’ that’s what you have to do when you’re a whole team, but then Jayde (and sophomore forward Jezabel Gauthier) went down, and they stole our homefield advantage.”

The “culprit” just happened to be another of Rhode Island’s best, senior striker Anna Lubic, who posted a hat trick before her victory was a half old. Actually, frosh Anna Hart provided a little help herself with a tally and two feeds.

For its work ethic, Narragansett (12-3-2) guaranteed itself a semifinal bid against top-seeded Tiverton. That’s expected to be contested at 6 p.m., Wednesday at a neutral site, Cumberland’s Tucker Field.

“I think we played our best game all season – intensity-wise, tactically, technically, we were just on,” noted head coach Kathryn Mahoney. “We possessed the ball beautifully, and everything we’ve been working on really came together nicely.

“I think (this win was a result of) a combination of things,” she continued. “What I preach to the girls is, No. 1, work ethic. That’s what’s in your control; that’s what you start with (because) it’s the foundation of everything. And that was evident the entire game – just how hard they played for 80 minutes.

“When we tied back on Sept 12, oh, we all knew it. It was a good tie; this time, we were really keying in on two of their great players (Fernandes and Gauthier). Obviously, what happened was a tough break for Shea, but they played really hard.”

Lubic notched her first on a Hart assist in the 19th minute, and the same pairing teamed up three minutes later to make it 2-0.

Twelve minutes after that, Hart garnered her own score on a feed from freshman Natalie Landy, and Lubic closed the half with seconds remaining, that courtesy of a superb pass from junior Rylie Mitchell.

It nevertheless looked that the fourth-seeded Raiders would make it more competitive on the scoreboard when freshman Jaylin Fernandes drilled a 35-yard direct kick past Naragansett High School junior keeper Lucia Given just 4:21 into the session.

Unfortunately for Shea, the visitors battered it with better one-touch passing, anticipation and simple knack for getting to the soccer ball before the opponent.

Shea senior netminder Autulinda

Pires managed a dozen stops in the defeat.

“All we can look forward to now is a new beginning,” senior captain Ciles Cano said. “It’s really disappointing, but we’re looking ahead.”