East Greenwich captures Division II boy's soccer state title

PROVIDENCE -- East Greenwich captured its first Division II boy's soccer state championship in school history last night at Rhode Island College, ousting the defending state champion Lincoln Lions, 3-0, in the finals of the MetLife Soccer Classic.

Michael Monti, who led Division II South with 19 goals in the regular season, notched the Avengers' first two goals, and Scott Douglas scored the other on a breakaway. All three of East Greenwich's goals came in the second half.

East Greenwich dominated the game from start to finish. The score could have been a lot worse, but Lincoln goalie Evan Walsh played outstanding, stopping the Avengers first 12 shots to give the Lions a chance.

Walsh kept East Greenwich off of the scoreboard until there was 17:16 remaining in the game when Monti, after receiving a pass from Benjamin Berger, went top shelf from five yards out.

Five minutes later, Monti headed in a pass from Robert Bialy, and Douglas sealed the victory when he scored on a breakaway with 4:50 left.

The Avengers dominated the time of possession and played most of the game on Lincoln's side of the field.

East Greenwich entered the playoffs as the top seed, going 15-0-1 in the regular season where the produced the top scoring offense in the division and had the best defensive, outscoring their opponents, 80-8.

The Lincoln players left Rhode Island College with their heads held high. Last year's state champs made a remarkable run through the playoffs.

Entering as the North's fifth seed, the Lions knocked off fourth-seeded Pilgrim in the preliminary round of the playoffs, and then upset two teams who they failed to beat during the regular season -- top seeded Shea, 2-1, in the quarterfinals, and third-seeded Central, Central, 3-0, in the semis.

Posted by Robert Lee  at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)