In only the third year of their lacrosse program, the Cranston West boys have had a great deal of success, especially over the past two seasons. They had a heart breaking loss to Coventry last year in the Division III semifinals, as the Oakers scored the winning goal with just one second remaining in the game.

This year, the Falcons moved up to a tougher Division II and posted a 6-7 record, which notched them the seventh seed and a match-up with the No. 2 seed Cumberland Clippers (9-4) in a Division II quarterfinal game held at Tucker Field on Thursday night.

The Falcons held their own for the majority of the game, but it was the Clippers’ defense that was too much for them, as they shut down the leading scorer in the state, Trent Colford, and came away with a 15-5 victory to advance to the Division II tournament semifinals against Wheeler tonight.

Cumberland held Colford to just one goal and one assist in the contest.

“That’s why you have to tip your hat to Cumberland’s defense,” said Cranston West head coach Jared Zimmer. “They have such a strong defense which is fast, big, deep, smart and tough and that is why they are the No. 2 team, and their goalkeeper Michael Stock (12 saves) was very good.”

Cumberland head coach Scott Carpenter also credited his defense saying, “We had communication problems in the first half with our defense, but we corrected our mistakes at halftime and transitioned from there. Cranston West has a prolific scorer in Trent Colford. He is a stud and scoring machine and I have to give credit to Jerome Evans, who defended him tonight and did a great job, as well as our other players that stepped up when Colford beat him, they were able to slide and help out. Once we stayed tight and had our slides available we were fine.”

The two teams played evenly in the first half, with the Falcons taking brief leads of 2-1 and 3-2 on goals by co-captain Camren Bent and Joe DelMastro. The Clippers’ lead was cut to 5-4 midway through the second quarter on DelMastro’s second goal of the game, and that is how it would stand at halftime.

The second half belonged to Cumberland, as it outscored the Falcons, 10-1 – five of those goals were scored by Jake Salisbury – as the Clippers shut out the Falcons in the fourth quarter, 7-0.

“Salisbury’s shots are not that hard, but he places them in the right spot every time,” Carpenter said.

Dean Chiarello scored the lone goal for West in the second half.

“We were in the game the whole time,” Zimmer said. “It got a little away in the fourth quarter and we did not score a goal on our man-up possessions. We were 0-for-2 on our man ups in the fourth quarter, and that will kill you every time.”

Zimmer stated that 20 seniors graduated last season, including three key defensemen. He said it took a while for his defense to gel together as a unit this year. He also praised his senior leaders Colford and goalkeeper Mike Pierce, who recorded 14 saves in the game.

“Trent has put a lot on his shoulders this year and he proved to everyone that he is one of the best players in the state, and for three years, Mike Pierce has made a reputation between the pipes and we would not be where we are without him,” Zimmer said.

Colford was named First Team All-Division for D-II-North. Pierce, DelMastro and Zach French were all named to the second team.

“What these guys have accomplished is something else in just three years,” Zimmer said. “We are not going to be happy just being in Division II, we want to make some noise, and this year we had our biggest junior varsity turn out ever. My guys gave it their all. They have heart and played hard, that’s all you can ask for.”