Cumberland catches fire, races past Falcons

Posted 4/24/14

Close calls have frustrated the Cranston West girls’ lacrosse team this season, and after 25 minutes of play against Cumberland on Monday, it looked like the Falcons were going to be in for another …

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Cumberland catches fire, races past Falcons

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Close calls have frustrated the Cranston West girls’ lacrosse team this season, and after 25 minutes of play against Cumberland on Monday, it looked like the Falcons were going to be in for another tight contest.

As it turned out, that wasn’t the case – but the game was just as frustrating.

West briefly led in the first half and trailed by just two goals at the break, but the Clippers scored seven out of the first eight goals in the second half to run away with a 14-5 victory.

The Falcons dropped to 1-5 in Division I-South, while Cumberland improved to 3-3. West came into the game with two losses by two goals or less, and based on record, thought that the Clippers were another comparable team.

They may very well be, but West didn’t play well enough to find out.

“I think I counted 12 unforced errors,” said West head coach Mike Soscia. “Take away those – a false start off of a free position start, stuff like that – we’ve got to clean up our game. In order to beat any team we’ve got to clean up our game.”

West got two goals from leading scorer Courtney Lambrese in the first 5:24 of the first half to take a 2-1 lead, and Lambrese’s third goal of the game with 6:31 to play in the half gave West a 3-2 lead. The Clippers had early goals from Sydney Beadles and Lindsay Sheehan.

But Cumberland suddenly caught fire. Arianna Coutu scored twice and Sheehan added another before the half, giving the Clippers a 5-3 lead.

Still, the Falcons were still very much in striking range – briefly.

Cumberland’s Madeline Andrews scored on a free position four minutes into the half and she added another one 10 seconds later after winning the ensuing draw and racing right to the goal. Three minutes after that, Coutu scored again to put Cumberland up 8-3.

“The wheels fell off the bus in the second half,” Soscia said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t get it going.”

Lambrese – who scored all five goals for the Falcons – temporarily stemmed the tied with a goal on a free position at the halfway mark of the half, but Cumberland poured in the next four goals. Rachel Haviland, Andrews, Beadles and Sheehan all found the back of the net to make it 12-4.

“Cumberland played a great game,” Soscia said. “They moved the ball very well. Their transition was very good.”

Lambrese capped West’s scoring with a goal on a free position with 4:11 to play before Cumberland’s Nicole Rochefort scored twice more before the end of the game.

“We couldn’t match their intensity today,” Soscia said.

The Falcons were also missing a few players due to vacations, which left their offense in a tough spot. Outside of Lambrese, few players had any real scoring chances. Erin Durigan had the best looks, including two free positions in the second half, but couldn’t find the net. Abbey Torres also had a late free position, but she also was turned aside by Cumberland goalkeeper Julia Eaton.

“The other girls need to step up to the plate a little more,” Soscia said. “It’s a team effort. You’ve got 11 girls on the field, and we need all 11 girls.”

Taylor Koretsky made 14 saves in goal for the Falcons, while six different players scored for Cumberland.

Still, at the end of the day, West is moving in the right direction. After last year’s winless campaign, the Falcons have a 9-8 win over North Kingstown under the belt and some competitive losses.

“I think we’ve been playing pretty well,” Soscia said. “It’s like a loose ball or an unforced error that is separating us from them. We lost two games by a total of three goals.”

The season is young, with eight games remaining on West’s schedule. It will try to rebound on Saturday when it hosts 3-3 Moses Brown at 10 a.m.

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