East Providence avenges lone defeat, wins D-III girls' soccer title

PROVIDENCE — Aaliyah Pattie's goal in the sixth round of penalty kicks lifted the East Providence High School girls' soccer team to the 2016 Division III title as the Townies downed top-seeded and unbeaten Johnston, 3-2, in the league championship game played Sunday night, Nov. 13, at Rhode Island College.

A freshman, Pattie's tally gave E.P. the 4-3 win in the shootout and came after her classmate, Townies' keeper Mia Jackson, had made three saves during PKs. The championship was the first ever in the four-decade history of the girls' soccer program.

"The first banner to ever be hung up in East Providence High School to say girls' soccer champions, it's a life-time achievement for these young ladies," said EPHS head coach Angelo Pizzi. "They'll never forget this. I have just been blown away by their accomplishments, their work ethic and their off the field stuff. This is a family. We talk about that all the time. And the No. 1 thing is that we were hungry and humble. That was it. That was our mantra all season."

Senior co-captain Sydney Vilardi and yet another freshman, Alyssa DeOliveira, scored goals for East Providence in regulation, the latter gave the locals a 2-1 lead in the 66th of 80 minutes. But the Townies faced near heart-break when off a scrum in the waning moments the Panthers' Gabriella Scarcella scored to force extra time.

"It crushed us a little bit. Some girls had their heads down, but a couple of girls in our huddle said pick your heads up right now. There's so much time. We have so much time. We have this, and it really brought us all together. We're a family, and we worked as a family to win," Vilardi said.

Neither team maintained much of an attack in either of the two, 10 minute overtime periods. E.P. had the better of the scoring chances, but a strike by freshman Ashley Cassino-Henriquez rolled wide of the post and Michaela Doro's chip off a last-gasp corner kick sailed high over the crossbar.

Johnston opened the best-of-five PK sequence, netting a goal. E.P. senior co-captain Arianna Colouro matched. Both sides missed next before both made, including Grace Abrams for the Townies. Jackson came up with the second of her two saves on the following Panther attempt then Vilardi confidently ripped a shot into the upper corner to give E.P. a 3-2 lead. Johnston answered, setting up the potential win for the Townies, but Panthers' keeper Kaylee Lameiro made a save of her own to send the shootout into sudden-death.

As she did previously, Jackson stayed stoutly on her line and correctly anticipated the Johnston attempt to make the save. Pattie then delivered the championship-clinching shot, a long, hard kick that stayed on the ground inside of the right post.

"I felt I needed to stay positive, stay hungry and humble like Coach Pizzi always says. He sets a good example. We practice PKs all the time, so I think we were all prepared for the pressure. The girls executed it well. We did great," said Jackson, who only became the Townies' keeper late in the season.

Added Pattie of her moment, "I didn't think it was going to go in. I didn't think I would have to shoot, I always go towards the right bottom corner, and we practiced it a lot. So I just thought like we were in practice, and I didn't even know it went in."

Johnston started Sunday's championship game on the front foot in part because of the strategy employed by the Townies. E.P. kept upwards of 10 players behind the ball in a defensive posture, which allowed the Panthers possession, but few gave them few good looks at net.

Integral to the Townies' formation was taking their leading scorer Abrams out of her customary striker position to shadow Johnston star Bianca Robbins. Abrams, with the assistant from the rest of the E.P. back four — Calouro, Lindsey Amaral, Haley Placido and Cassino-Henriquez — smothered Robbins at almost every moment throughout the contest.

"I probably haven't played defense since I was 12, maybe. I just had so much support, so much support from my teammates, my friends and my family. I just went into it knowing I could do it. And it wasn't for me. It was for the team," Abrams said of her role marking Robbins, who netted a hat-trick in nine minutes in Johnston's win over the Townies in the regular season and finished the year with 46 goals.

Added Coach Pizzi, "We came out in our 4-4-2 last time with Grace up front as our leading scorer. And she's not only our leading scorer, but our fastest player. So we took her and put her on Robbins, who I think is one of the top five players in the state. We man-marked her the entire game. All Grace did was to stay with her. (Robbins) deserved that kind of treatment and respect, and we gave it to her."

With Johnston pushing forward, it was the Townies who eventually created and took advantage of the game's first scoring chance. Senior midfield Amber Drainville slid a pass to Vilardi in stride. E.P.'s second leading scorer dribbled through three Panther defenses then beat Lameiro with a shot to the keeper's left five minutes into the game.

Johnston actually only scored one goal in regulation because the Panthers' first was really an own-goal by the Townies. Off a corner kick in the 14th minute, the game would tied when a gaggle of Townie defenders couldn't clear the box, instead catching Jackson wrong-footed as the ball fell in the E.P. cage.

Johnston did have the last, best look at net in to close the first half, but a long cross/pass from just outside the 18-yard box sailed over Jackson's head and past the far post.

The Panthers, as they did to open the contest, carried play to begin the second half, but again it was the Townies who would be first on the board.

Johnston did have two clear looks at goal. Jackson calmly stopped the first and later a Panther whiffed as she broke free inside the six-yard box off a corner, the Townies then clearing the ball from harm's way.

In the 60th minute, E.P. generated its initial attempt on net, though Pattie was unable to convert a nifty cross from Vilardi, sailing the half-volley attempt high over the bar. About four minutes later, the Townies repelled a Panther corner and again went on a counter, but Lameiro stoned DeOliveira, who couldn't finish off a two-on-one with Vilardi.

In the 66th minute, however, DeOliveira made the most of her next opportunity. Following a Johnston foul just past the center line, Vilardi drilled the free kick off the Johnston wall. The ball caromed forward towards DeOliveira, who back-headed a shot past the Panthers' keeper to give the locals the lead once more.

Lameiro couldn't stop that shot, but she made three other clutch saves, each on proper strikes by Vilardi, to keep the Panthers in it. And her mates came through when the Townies couldn't clear their zone in the final minute. Though a handful of E.P. defenders surrounded Robbins and Scarcella, they couldn't corral the ball. It fell to the feet of the latter, who struck a well-placed shot past Jackson with just 34.6 seconds left in regulation.

For East Providence, its championship season came to a close with 12-1-0 record. The Townies avenged their only loss suffered at the feet of the Panthers, 5-2, back on October 18. The third time was the charm for East Providence, which lost its two previous championship game appearances, in 2001 and 2003 when the Townies played in Division II. Since that time, E.P. has enjoyed and endured varying degrees of success and failure, culminating with the title win Sunday.

"It's means everything to me. It means everything to us. We've worked so hard. Ever since my freshman year, we've worked so hard. But since July 15, we've been working every day, working and working towards this goal. And finally we got it," said Vilardi, whose teams as a freshman and a sophomore won just two of 31 games.

Johnston's fall ended with the same 12-1-0 mark, but without the title. The Panthers were making just their second-ever championship game showing, having lost the D-III title back in 2002.

— Photos by Tim Marshall