Isaac Bean
Sports Editor
Rhode Island College’s Men’s and Women’s soccer seasons both ended this week. Both teams were high seeds in the Little East Championship tournament, but unfortunately came up short respectively.
The Anchorwomen had an interesting season this year. After starting off on fire, the girls’ season quickly died down. The Anchorwomen went into the playoffs with a record of 7-7-3. They had previously gone winless in their last eight games, losing six and tying two. Despite the record, the Anchorwomen still held the number five seed in the Little East Championship. They were set to play on the road against the number four seeded UMass Boston. UMass Boston was the team that ended their win streak of six in the regular season.
The game was definitely competitive. After a relatively slow start from both sides, UMass Boston got on the board at around the twenty-six minute mark. RIC was unable to respond before halftime as the Beacons lead 1-0 at the end of the first half. Coming out of the half, RIC had a few shots on goal but were unable to tie the ball game until Junior Marissa Ruzzano scored a huge penalty kick goal at the seventy six minute mark to make the score 1-1 late in the game. Unfortunately for the Anchorwomen, the Beacons responded quickly and regained the lead late in the second half. The Beacons would hold onto that lead to win the game 2-1. This ended the Anchorwomen’s season with a record of 7-8-3.
Moving to the Men’s team, the Anchormen had a successful regular season. They finished the season with a record of 8-4-5. This gave the Anchormen the number four seed in the Little East Championship playoffs. They hosted number five seeded Eastern Connecticut State in the first round of the playoffs.
The game started off hot for the Anchormen. Graduate Student Jonathan Oliveira scored at the twenty-four minute mark to give the Anchormen a 1-0 lead. This was Oliveria’s thirteenth goal of the season. The Anchormen’s defense was able to hold strong going into halftime. Late in the second half, Braedon Cannon made the lead 2-0 at around the seventy-eight minute mark. The 2-0 lead did not last long, however. The Warriors quickly responded to make the game 2-1 with about eleven minutes left. The Anchormen were able to hold on the lead and win 2-1. This game allowed them to advance to the next round in the playoffs.
The next game was against the number one seeded UMass Boston. Just like the Women’s team, the Men’s season ended with a loss to UMass Boston. The Beacons went up with a quick 2-0 lead going into halftime. Coming out of half, the Anchormen were able to tie the game up at 2-2 with goals by Lucas Duquette and Jesus Guarcas. Unfortunately for the Anchormen, the game was tied for just about a minute, as the Beacons regained a 3-2 lead. The Beacons proved to be too much as they scored another late goal to win 4-2. This ended the Anchormen’s season with a record of 9-5-5.
Next year, both soccer teams look to improve on successful seasons.
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