 Rhode Island Division I State Champions November 14, 1998 |
|
 Seniors Leslie Cipriani Alesia Gray Christine King Katie McBride Kyla Sand Summur Shaikh Sarah Stanhope Lauren Testa |
SKHS Girls' Soccer (1.1.1.3) |
Girls' Soccer 1998 |
Compliments of "Friends of SKHS Girls' Soccer" |
Rhode Island Division I State Champions November 14, 1998 |
|
Seniors Leslie Cipriani Alesia Gray Christine King Katie McBride Kyla Sand Summur Shaikh Sarah Stanhope Lauren Testa |
Founded: 1880
Enrollment: ~ 1200
Colors: Light Blue, Navy and White
Nickname: Rebels
Affiliation: RI Interscholastic League
Principal: Patricia Hines
Athletic Director: Bob Cavanagh
Head Coach: Jim Kelly
S.K.H.S. Girls' Soccer Team
South Kingstown High School
215 Columbia Street
South Kingstown, R.I. 02879
Tel: 401-792-9611
Head coach: Jim Kelly
Hometown: ?
Residence: Wakefield, RI
Birthdate: ?
Education: ?
Coaching Experience: South Kingstown High School, 1991 - Present.
USYSA Region I coaching committee administrator,
1 of 4 in USA.
Director of coaching olympic development program.
President RI Rays United Premier Soccer Club for
girls.
Competitive director South County Soccer.
President RI Girls Soccer Coaches Association.
Director and Coach of RI Rays 'w' league USISL.
Coach South County Soccer Club.
For the last 16 years, coaching girls teams from
under 11 to adult women.
Working with the Women's World Cup for 1999 -
Sales and marketing manager.
The 1998 season is Jim's 8th (or 10th) at South Kingstown. The 1997
State Championship was his first.
Assistant coach: Lizie Pilicy
Hometown: Beverly, MA
Residence: Narragansett, RI
Birthdate: ?
Education: URI.
Liz is a 1998 graduate of URI where she played soccer. She
also plays for the RI StingRays. She replaces Jenn Hodge
who got married and has a busy schedule.
Team manager: Jane Doe
Jane is ...
| Sr | Jr | So | Fr | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varsity | 8 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 23 |
| Cross-overs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| JV's | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No Name Pos Ht Age* DOB Class H.S.
--- ------------------------- ----- ---- --- -------- ----- ----------
25 Jill Apicerno F 5-_ '00 S.K.
22 Bridgette Boynton M 5-_ '01 S.K.
10 Julie Cantagallo *7 M/F 5-6 17 04/22/82 '00 S.K.
9 LESLIE CIPRIANI Mid 5-5 18 01/09/81 '99 S.K.
5 Grace Dawson Fwd 5-_ 15 07/05/83 '01 S.K.
18 Jessica DiNapoli *4 Bck 5-3 17 07/29/81 '00 S.K.
29 Nikki DiNapoli Bck 5-3 __ __/__/__ '02 S.K.
20 Stephanie Gentile Any 5-3 17 02/26/82 '00 S.K.
24 ALESIA GRAY - C *2 M/F 5-4 17 08/12/81 '99 S.K.
19 Lauren Hathaway F 5-_ '01 S.K.
21 Ellen Histen Fwd 5-6 17 08/28/81 '00 S.K.
12 CHRISTINE KING *6 S/F 5-_ '99 S.K.
2 Lindsay Knapp *3 Any 5-2 17 12/12/81 '00 S.K.
6 KATIE McBRIDE - C *1 Bck 5-4 18 01/07/81 '99 S.K.
14 Bethany Moore *5 Mid 5-2 18 01/31/81 '00 S.K.
GK Caitlin Mullen GK 5-_ 15 05/21/83 '01 S.K.
17 Katie Parkinson Fwd 5-9 17 03/19/82 '00 S.K.
16 KYLA SAND Bck 5-5 17 07/10/81 '99 S.K.
13 SUMMUR SHAIKH Mid 5-5 17 12/01/81 '99 S.K.
4 Kate Sikorski Any 5-5 17 12/09/81 '00 S.K.
0 SARAH STANHOPE GK 5-9 17 08/21/81 '99 S.K.
8 Jillian Tente Fwd 5-2 15 12/18/82 '00 S.K.
11 LAUREN TESTA - C Bck 5-1 18 04/29/81 '99 S.K.
*1 Injured ... bad ankle ..... out 17 games - 08/28 - 10/22/98.
(Has two surgical zippers, each about four inches long, on
both sides of her left ankle from surgery for an injury
last May - hopes to be back.)
*2 Injured ... foot sprain ... out 0 games - 08/28 - 08/31/98.
out 3 games - 09/04 - 09/10/98.
*3 Injured ... ankle ......... out 1 game - 09/04.
*4 Injured ... ankle ......... out 1 game - 10/05.
... sick .......... out 1 game - 10/07.
*5 Injured ... sore jaw ...... out 2 games - 10/07 - 10/08/98.
*6 Sick ...... strep throat .. out 2 games - 10/13 - 10/15/98.
*7 Injured ... ankle ......... out 1 game - 10/25.
23 Meghan Randall (9/4) Any 5-? / / '02 S.K.
xx JV Players should be listed here - who are they? '01 S.K.
39 Chelsea Heffner '01 S.K.
* Age as of June 30, 1999
Sarah Stanhope: Loves the theatre, especially musicals. Enjoys the outdoors, camping, fishing, and rock climbing. Favorite food is pizza and steak and cheese grinders. Wants to be a bioligist, maybe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Date Opponent Location Time Results ---- ---------- ---------------------------- -------- ------- ------- Wed Aug 19 Initial Team Meeting SKHS 6:30 Thu Aug 20 Practice begins Fri Aug 28 Bay View Tcktwn 3:30 Scrimmage Xxx Aug 30 No game - Injury Fund (NL) Xxxxxxx x:00 ???
Mon Aug 31 Pasta Party at Testa's Tue Sep 01 Barrington Home 6:00 T 2-2 Fri Sep 04 Mount Hope Away 7:00 W 2-1 Tue Sep 08 Warwick Vets Home 6:00 W 5-0 Thu Sep 10 Smithfield Home 3:30 W 4-1 Tue Sep 15 Pilgrim Home 3:30 W 5-0 Thu Sep 17 North Kingstown Home 7:00 W 2-0 Tue Sep 22>23 East Greenwich Away 7:00 L 1-0 Thu Sep 24 Toll Gate Home 3:30 W 3-0 Tue Sep 29 Westerly Away 7:00 T 1-1 Thu Oct 01 Barrington Away 7:00 T 0-0 Mon Oct 05 Mount Hope Home 4:00 L 3-2 Wed Oct 07 Warwick Vets Away 3:30 W 2-0 Thu Oct 08 Smithfield Away 3:30 W 1-0 Tue Oct 13 Pilgrim Away 3:30 L 4-3 Thu Oct 15 North Kingstown Away 7:00 W 1-0 Tue Oct 20 East Greenwich Home 6:00 W 2-0 Thu Oct 22 Toll Gate Away 3:30 W 1-0 Sun Oct 25 Westerly Home 6:00 W 1-0 Playoffs (See RIHS Division I Soccer Page Also) ... Tue Nov 03 North Kingstown Pierce 7:00 W 1-0 Wed Nov 11>14 East Greenwich (Finals) Pierce 5:00 W 1-0 Current record: 12-03-03 (Conference), plus 0 non-league (inj fund) Playoffs: 02-00
Aug 28, 1998 (Game #SC1): Bay View (at Tuckertown) ($0 admission; no programs.) The team played three 30-minute halves, or thirds, if you prefer. They looked okay. They seemed to control 85% of the action. Bay View had very few shots on goal. Everyone played. Players tried different positions, like sweeper and then forward. There was a fairly heavy rainfall for about twenty minutes in the middle of the game. Lauren Testa, Lauren Hathaway (3 goals), and Katie Parkinson scored for the Rebels. There was also an "own goal" that Bay View donated. Katie McBride and Alesia Gray, both co-captains, rode the bench due to injuries. Katie's is the most serious. Her left ankle is in need of a lot of rehab. There are pins inside from surgery last May that left two four inch zippers on both sides. (It reminds one of Westerly's Christie Ward.) Alesia could be back any day from a foot sprain. Nikki DiNapoli, younger sister of Jess DiNapoli may be the only freshman to make varsity.
Sep 01, 1998 (Game #01): Barrington visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Alesia Gray's penalty kick salvages a tie for SK The state champs, South Kingstown, opened defense of their state championship against Barrington. Barrington looked good (a lot of poise, deliberate, good commx); South Kingstown didn't look good. On this historic night when Mark McGwire hit his 56th and 57th home runs in Miami to set a record for the NL, the Rebels were lucky to get a tie. The play was aggressive, but tasteful, nothing dirty. Barrington controlled the play most of the game, especially in the second half. The final score could have easily been 5-1 Barrington. Barrington had eight corner kicks while the Rebels had none. SCFun, without checking, seems to remember SK being shutout on corner kicks only once last year. South got on the board late in the first half right after Bethany Moore went down and was helped off the field. From almost mid-field, Nikki DiNapoli sent the free kick up field to Alesia Gray who set up Katie Parkinson on the right side. Katie blasted the goal from about 15 yards out. The first half ended with South up 1-0. In the second half, Barrington really hogged the ball and scored twice within a span of about three minutes to go up 2-1. The first by Carly Williamson from the left side into the right corner; the second by Gothberg, from center field to just inside the left post. South Goalie Sarah Stanhope didn't get close to either. She had a busy night, making many saves. She had more saves in only one game last year. Late in the game she knocked a high one "up and over the back" for a great save. (She wasn't trying to "just" catch it was she - and it just happened to pop loose and go over the back? Nah! SCFun will ask her at the next game.) At 31:35 of the second half, it appeared that SK had scored a goal on a ball bouncing around in front of the Barrington net. But the referee ruled a handball in the box by Barrington before the apparent goal so South got a penalty kick. Alesia Gray's shot hit the left post and bounced off to the right, into the net, for the tying score. And that's the way it ended, 2-2. Freshman Nikki DiNapoli looked good in her debut. Christine King played well at sweeper, replacing Katie Dougan who is at URichmond. There was some great individual efforts by SK but they just couldn't connect the dots. Something was missing. The new assistant coach for SK is Lizie Pilicy a recent URI graduate and URI soccer player. Lindsay Fish, All-Stater from the SK Class of 1997, was on the sidelines on crutches. She is now at URI and has made the soccer team as a walk-on. Unfortunately, it will be a couple weeks before her tendonitis allows her to play. The Providence Journal seemed to mix up Parkinson and Gray's roles. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sikorski, Testa, and Sand; Shaikh, Cantagallo, Parkinson, and Knapp; Histen and Moore.See source code for 9/04 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
Barrington 0 2 -- 2
South Kingstown 1 1 -- 2
Scoring - SK Katie Parkinson (Alesia Gray) 36:00;
BA Carly Williamson (Gothberg) 63:41;
BA Gothberg (Carly Williamson) 66:14;
SK-PK Alesia Gray 71:25.
Shots on Goal - BA many; SK a few.
Winning Goal - None.
Saves - BA Keeney 5; SK Stanhope 8.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - BA 8; SK 0.
Attendance - 198.
Sep 04, 1998 (Game #02): at Mount hope ($3 admission; Yes, they had programs. How about that! The program didn't list the coaches, however.) Grace Dawson and Leslie Cipriani score for SK's first win of the year SCFun arrived late as did a lot of fans who went to the "old" field by mistake. Just as SCFun arrived, at 13:30 into (not "to go"; wish the field clock would run "up" and not "down") the first half, Mt. Hope's Ashley Sampson scored. It was a ball that South's goalie, Sarah Stanhope, would later say she "should have had". She got her hands on the original shot but couldn't hold it. Ashley pounced on the rebound. South looked much better in their second game. They were in control 85% of the time. The offense looked more in tune and the defense, especially the last couple lines of Christine King, Jess DiNapoli, Lauren Testa, and Kyla Sand, played well. They still have to communicate better and be careful on those cross-field passes deep in their own half of the field that are almost intercepted for breakaways. They had some chances in the first half, that saw a Mt. Hope player get a yellow card for something with about six minutes to go. Sweeper, Christine King, moved up front for a while but nothing came of that. Kyla Sand did come close on a free kick. A cross from Katie Parkinson to Ellen Histen was an "almost". Leslie Cipriani had a nice feed to Katie close-in. There were more chances giving fans a feeling that South could come back from the half time, 1-0 deficit. Mt. Hope switched goalies in the second half. South had many more chances, succeeding on two of them. Katie P. had a free kick that went out of bounds wide left off a Mt. Hope player. Meghan Randall, who played well in her first varsity game for South, took the corner kick that ended up bouncing around in front of Mt. Hope's net before Grace Dawson chipped it in. That was 26:30 into the half. About 90 seconds later, Katie came down the right side and made a nice feed to Leslie who put it away from about 25 yards out for the eventual game winner and a 2-1 victory. Mt. Hope staged a late rally but the Rebel's defense, anchored by Nikki DiNapoli held. Mt. Hope, had a free kick with about 10 seconds left in the game (oh no!) from the left but it went long. Jillian Tente played well. She came close on a shot from the left that hit the crossbar. South's Kate Sikorski showed some nice footwork as did Julie Cantagallo, Stephanie Gentile, Lauren Hathaway, Bethany Moore, Summur Shaikh, and Bridgette Boynton. Alesia Gray sat out with a bad foot. She may have pushed it playing against Barrington. Lindsay Knapp also sat out with an ankle problem. Kim and Kendra Lanzire's (Mt. Hope soccer alumni from '98 and '97 respectively) sister and brother-in-law were in the stands. They report that the two are doing well - Kendra at Stonehill majoring in Spanish and Education, and Kim at Brown, where the physical (endurance, speed, strength, etc.) standards and requirements for the soccer players are quite high, even more so for the upper-classmen. The starting lineup is the best SCFun could piece together. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Shaikh, Cantagallo, Parkinson, and Sikorski; Histen and Tente.
South Kingstown 0 2 -- 2
Mt. Hope 1 0 -- 1
Scoring - MH Ashley Sampson (Alexis Bouchard) 13:30;
SK Grace Dawson 53:30;
SK Leslie Cipriani (Katie Parkinson 54:50.
Shots on Goal - SK dozen; MH very few.
Winning Goal - SK Leslie Cipriani.
Saves - SK Stanhope 4; MH Medeiros 3, Pacheco 4.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 4; MH 0.
Yellow Card - MH 1.
Attendance - 247.
Sep 08, 1998 (Game #03): Warwick visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Bombs Away - South routs Warwick That was one of the most lopsided games that SCFun can remember seeing in the three years it has been watching Rebel Soccer. And not just the scoring, the total domination and great ball control. (The team did beat Toll Gate by an identical, 5-0 score, in 1996.) It was unbelievable. It was almost like a practice when the coach blows his or her whistle every time the defense gets the ball and lets the offense "go again". The South goalies touched the ball three times. Warwick's goalie, Tina Fogg, was hopping around all night long. It's a good thing the game was delayed 25 minutes because of the late arrival of Warwick, or Tina would have had that awful sun in her eyes all of the first half. As it was, she only had 20 minutes of shielding her eyes. Ellen Histen did her "thing" down in that left corner over and over again in the first half. After a few tries, she finally connected with Leslie Cipriani in front of the goal and Leslie nailed it for the first score of the night. It would turn out to be her second winning goal in as many games. Then, just before the half ended, Grace Dawson lofted a nice corner kick that Lauren Hathaway was able to put home right in front of Warwick's net. South 2, Warwick 0. In the second half at about 14:30, Jill Apicerno got things rolling again with a free kick that rattled around and got Tina Fogg out of the net. Grace Dawson took advantage for her first of two goals on the night. About fifteen minutes later, Lauren Testa made a great crossing pass from the right corner, that Grace Dawson eventually gathered up and drove for South's fourth goal. The prettiest goal (SCFun was right in line with the path of the ball) may have been the last. With about a minute to play, Lauren Testa displayed some great control in the right corner before passing to Meghan Randall. Meg faked out her defender, spun, and shot from about 20 yards out. The ball stayed low and went right through the goalie's legs for goal number five. Some loose ends - there was a nice take-away by Nikki DiNapoli and feed to Katie Parkinson. Jillian Tente played well. Stephanie Gentile just missed the upper right corner early in the second half. Lauren Testa had some nice moves. Chris King was solid, taking a few balls into Warwick's end. Lindsay Knapp's ankle was feeling better. Alesia Gray will have some tests done tomorrow on her foot. Congrats to Big Mac - Where were you for 62? But, remember, it's not over 'till it's over. What a night! Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Sikorski, N. DiNapoli, Moore, and Contagallo; Tente and Parkinson.See source code for 9/11 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
Warwick Vets 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 2 3 -- 5
Scoring - SK Leslie Cipriani (Meghan Randall) 21:34;
SK Lauren Hathaway (Grace Dawson) 39:00;
SK Grace Dawson (Lauren Hathaway) 54:30;
SK Grace Dawson (Lauren Testa) 76:00;
SK Meghan Randall (Lauren Hathaway) 79:10.
Shots on Goal - MH maybe one or two; SK all the time.
Winning Goal - SK Leslie Cipriani.
Saves - WA Fogg 21; SK Stanhope 1, Mullen 0.
Back Saves - WA 1.
Corner Kicks - WA 0; SK 10.
Yellow Card - SK Bethany Moore.
Attendance - 183.
Sep 10, 1998 (Game #04): Smithfield visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) South's offense continues to roar - the Rebels beat Smithfield, 4-1 The game was almost a replay of Tuesday's in that South once again dominated. Also it started late. The Smithfield bus, arrived at 3:27 for the 3:30 game. Supposedly, dropping off the tennis team was part of the problem. Regardless, they got going fairly quickly. South's offense got in gear almost immediately with Ellen Histen driving the left side again and again. On one cross by Ellen, Bethany Moore was right there but the ball zigged at the last second and missed Bethany's toe - next time, Bethany. After a few more close calls, Lindsay Knapp had a thrown in. Katie Parkinson won control and fed Grace Dawson in the middle. She placed the ball high, center net, out of the Smithfield goalie's reach. The half ended with South up 1-0. In the second half, Jillian Tente almost had one. She fired one that hit the left post and bounced out. Midway through the half, Kate Sikorski, in the right corner, sent a crossing pass that Bethany got a head on from a few feet out. The goalie had no chance. 2-0. Just a couple minutes later, Katie Parkinson got behind Smithfield's defense with a clear field in front of her. Pushing the ball up at about 8 yards at a time, staying just in front of the defender on her heels, Katie finally introduced herself to the goalie and when the goalie made her move, Katie netted the ball to the left side. Very nice. The last goal for South came about 10 minutes later, at the 35 minute mark of the half. Stephanie Gentile was driving right as the goalie was coming out. Stephanie's hard drive bounced off the goalie's leg and off to the left side where Bethany Moore took the ball and, with an open net, had an easy score. The goalie, Marissa Nardelli, turned her ankle a little on that play and came out of the game. After the game, she said she'd be ready by the next game. Smithfield got on the board with under two minutes to play. White bounced a high hopper from the left side that took an astro-turf bounce over Caitlin Mullen, South's goalie. On the sideline, SCFun enjoyed talking with Mr. Nippo, a UMaine alum who has the low-down on many, many colleges around the country. Elise Dione, the former Smithfield speedster is now playing at AIC in Springfield. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Parkinson, Dawson and Hathaway; Tente and Moore.
Smithfield 0 1 -- 1
South Kingstown 1 3 -- 4
Scoring - SK Grace Dawson 16:31;
SK Bethany Moore (Kate Sikorski) 61:36;
SK Katie Parkinson (Bethany Moore) 63:28;
SK Bethany Moore (Stephanie Gentile) 75:00;
SM White 38:10.
Shots on Goal - SM few; SK lots.
Winning Goal - SK Bethany Moore.
Saves - SM Goalie 14; SK Stanhope 2, Mullen 0.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SM 0; SK 5.
Attendance - 83.
Sep 15, 1998 (Game #05): Pilgrim visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Lauren Testa lights South's fire in 5-0 win over Pilgrim For the third straight time, it was another blowout (score more than ball control), although the first half and much of the second half was anything but. Pilgrim played the Rebels pretty tight. Although South was in control much of the time the Rebels had little luck in the first half. Bethany Moore came close when her ball hit the cross bar. Katie Parkinson had an opening but her shot went high. Ellen Histen had a couple chances, one a nice drive. Pilgrim was able to work the ball into South's end often enough to keep the game interesting. There were a lot of whistles blown down there. Pilgrim had their share of free kicks and Sarah Stanhope had a few saves, unlike the previous two games that were pretty quiet. The second half, which seemed a couple minutes short, was exciting. Lauren Testa took a ball to the head (she looked like Kramer trying to shake water out of his ear) in the early minutes. She stayed in the game but went out for a rest at the next whistle. While she was out, Grace Dawson had a corner kick - but not before Coach Kelly put in Katie Parkinson. With Pilgrim's coach yelling "You take #17." (#17 is Katie) to one on his players ... you guessed it. Katie had a beautiful header into the net to finally get South on the board. 1-0. Then L.T. came back into the game, but now at forward, not her usual back position. It gave SCFun goose bumps to watch her in action. She seemed to be in the thick of things from then on out. Hopefully SCFun can now cancel the therapy it has been in ever since Bo Jackson retired - speed and quickness is back. Thanks Lauren. Pilgrim's end really came to life. It looked like a pin ball machine time after time with the ball flying from one Rebel to another. Take your pick ... from Lauren Testa to Alesia Gray to Meghan Randall to Katie Parkinson to Jillian Tente etc. Jillian had a nice goal at 17 minutes into the half. She grabbed the ball about 15 yards in front of Pilgrim's goal, turned clockwise on her defender, all the while winding up and letting her left foot plant the ball into the right side of the net. 2-0. There was a little confusion on the next score. Grace Dawson took another corner kick from the left side. Suddenly the ball seems to be going into Pilgrim's net, but for a few seconds, it just doesn't look right. No one seems to be jumping up and down, celebrating. Sideline fans thought it was an "own goal" off a Pilgrim player. That's too bad but South will take it. It looks like Grace gets credit. About three minutes later, at about 24:30 of the second, Lauren, from 20 yards left, but close in, drove one that the Pilgrim goalie turned and grabbed. But as she continued spinning, the ball fell from her arms and rolled right into the net. 4-0. The last goal was pretty. Nikki DiNapoli, from about 35 yards out, on the left, fed a nice ball to Lauren who turned, and seeing an open field, moved the ball in closer. With a defender finally approaching, she made a little zig and scored to the right. The goalie didn't have a chance. South's defense, anchored by Christine King, played well. It was good to see Alesia Gray back on the field. The doctor evidently saw her test results and gave her the okay. It was a muggy afternoon. Another 3:30 start. The rain held off although there were a few rain drops . Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Moore, Parkinson, and Cantagallo; Histen and Gray.
Pilgrim 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 0 5 -- 5
Scoring - SK Katie Parkinson (Grace Dawson) 46:50;
SK Jillian Tente (Meghan Randall) 57:04;
SK Grace Dawson 61:30;
SK Lauren Testa 64:30;
SK Lauren Testa 67:31.
Shots on Goal - PI ~10; SK ~20.
Winning Goal - SK Katie Parkinson.
Saves - PI Hencler 10, Other Pilgrim goalie 0; SK Stanhope 6,
Mullen 2.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - PI 2; SK 6.
Attendance - 55.
Sep 17, 1998 (Game #06): North Kingstown visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Cipriani and Moore lead South over North, 2-0 It was a great game, probably the most competitive so far this year. South may have had the edge in time of possession but both teams had their chances. South was able to take advantage of the few openings it had while North wasn't. North had the edge in corner kicks. South scored early. They made an initial charge which North seemed to have under control but they weren't able to get the ball out of their end. Ellen Histen may have been the first to get to the free ball. A pass, or a deflection off a Skipper, ended up in front of Leslie Cipriani, about 25 yards out in the middle. She shot. The ball was square on and high. Alicia Merdinyan, North's goalie, jumped and was able to get her hands on the ball but the force of the shot carried the ball off her fingertips and into the goal. In the second half at about 1:30 in, in North's end, there was a high fly coming in from the right, possibly off Ellen Histen's foot. The ball was coming down about 15 yards out. North's goalie came out to meet it but couldn't find the handle. The ball bounced a couple times before Bethany Moore was able to gain control and take advantage of the opening. 2-0. That was it for scoring. North seemed to have a golden opportunity about 10 minutes into the second half. It appeared that South's goalie, Sarah Stanhope, who had some great diving saves during the course of the game, was out of the net and that all North had to do to get within one goal was to get a foot on the ball. But it never happened. Jess DiNapoli came to the rescue and cleared the ball out. Close call. South had some other chances that ended in saves or balls just missing their mark. Katie Parkinson almost repeated, from the last game, her header off a Grace Dawson corner at 31:30 but this time it went high. - Grace Dawson had a nice feed to Stephanie Gentile who had a step on her defender. - Alesia Gray came down the middle but the shot went high. Julie Cantagallo had a couple nice runs. The first on a nice pass from Lauren Testa in the first half. In the second half, she got a standing ovation for her great foot-work as she faked, and pushed the ball up the middle only to see her shot go a couple feet wide right. Lauren Testa, in a forward spot, had a nice end-around run in the last few seconds of the game. Wouldn't it be funny if she ended up at Boston College along side Morgan Page. With the season 1/3 over, it's interesting to look back on South's stats for the last couple years and to see the difference in the offensive figures. "That" ref was there. You know, the big guy, the one who explains them as well as calls them. Many South fans were impressed with his impartiality. So much so that they wanted to buy him a free ticket for the next stagecoach out of town. Did Mike get to him before the game? It was good to see North's Sarah Tift (managing, not playing this year) looking well after her freak basketball injury this summer. Good luck to Sarah and her goal of playing Division I basketball. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Moore, Parkinson, and Cantagallo; Histen and Gray.
North Kingstown 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 0 2 -- 2
Scoring - SK Leslie Cipriani 03:25;
SK Bethany Moore (Leslie Cipriani) 41:30.
Shots on Goal - PI ~15; SK ~20.
Winning Goal - SK Leslie Cipriani.
Saves - NK Merdinyan 9; SK Stanhope 9.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - NK 5; SK 4.
Attendance - 403.
Sep 23, 1998 (Game #07): at East Greenwich ($3 admission; no programs. ... $1 senior citizens - Who you calling a senior citizen?) East Greenwich hands the Rebels its first defeat, 1-0 It was a bad day for the rebels. They suffered their first defeat of the season to a well balanced East Greenwich team. It was also the first game in which they haven't scored. So much for looking at offensive figures - let's not hex these kids. The game was postponed from yesterday because of heavy rains and a wet field. A few teams did play yesterday. However, someone forgot to reschedule a bus for the new date. Doesn't anyone at the bus company read the sports pages? Someone, the A.D.?, will certainly be censured and that's a pretty strong punishment - isn't it!?) The 5:15 departure from SK finally got underway at 7:00. The team arrived at 7:35 and the game started at 8:00, an hour late. It was a very chilly night for the first full day of fall. Fans were in winter coats and blankets. EG wore their long sleeve shirts. South controlled things in the second half. But for the game, it's anyone's guess. Either team could have had the edge. South did have 5-0 edge in corner kicks. East Greenwich scored early in the second half when Sophia Pantazi, from 15 yards away, right side, but very deep with a bad angle, was able to place the ball into the far panel of the net. South's goalie, Sarah Stanhope couldn't get her hand down quick enough. Sarah had a few saves early on, including a high ball on the short hop, which was appropriate as there were baseball/softball fields at both ends. South almost tied the game with under two minutes left. Ellen Histen had a breakaway on her defender. Unfortunately, Ellen somehow got her arm caught up in the defenders arm. She looked funny trying to run down the field sideways. On the ensuing free kick, a Rebel got her head on the ball and directed it toward the goal. The EG goalie appeared to have the ball but she couldn't hold on and it fell through her hands and appeared to be on its way to bouncing into the net. But it bounced off to the side. Big groan from the South fans. Ellen had an earlier breakaway but just couldn't find the open net. Alesia Gray had a nice setup in the right corner. Nikki DiNapoli looked good on a couple balls that she cleared. Leslie Cipriani and Katie Parkinson had some near misses. East Greenwich looked good on their throw-ins. They also had a couple nice runs down the field, from one right corner to the other. Katie Parkinson seemed to hurt a knee in the first half. She did come in for a Grace Dawson corner kick in the first half but she never played in the second half. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope, King, Sand, Testa, J. DiNapoli; Sikorski, Gray, Parkinson, Dawson; Histen, and Cipriani.
South Kingstown 0 0 -- 0
East Greenwich 0 1 -- 1
Scoring - EG Sophia Pantazis (Ali Peake) 43:27.
Shots on Goal - SK dozen, EG dozen.
Winning Goal - EG Sophia Pantazis.
Saves - SK Stanhope 8; EG Almon 8.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 5; EG 0.
Attendance - 138.
Sep 24, 1998 (Game #08): Toll Gate visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) South gets back on track with a 3-0 win over Toll Gate It didn't take long for the Rebels to get rid of that sour taste of defeat. What a difference a day (plus about 30 degrees) makes. Don't you prefer those afternoon games in the daylight? It was a fairly easy win for South which now trails Barrington by one point in their race for the top spot. Bethany Moore started the scoring in the first half, at about 10:34. SCFun had a great view of the score. Beth, in heavy traffic, 15 yards out, and just to the right, gathered up a loose ball, turned and let fly. Magically, a tunnel opened and the ball flew through the middle of a gauntlet course of legs. Pretty. About twelve minutes later, Katie Parkinson scored. A soft fly came into the goal area. Toll Gate's goalie came out to meet the ball. She did get her hands on it but couldn't hold it. Kate was about six feet in front of the goalie and quickly booted the loose ball for a 2-0 South lead. At 9:40 of the second half, Ellen Histen went deep left. She fought off her defender and centered a nice ball for Christine King, playing up from her normal sweeper spot. Christine easily chipped it in for the third and final goal of the day. Sarah Stanhope had a good game in goal for South. She had a nice "up and over" save midway through the second half on a Toll Gate corner kick which resulted in another corner kick. The were the usual close calls. Bethany Moore, from the right, hit the upper right corner of the net. Julie Cantagallo, on a nice feed from Katie missed, a little wide right. Christine King to Katie was another "almost". Lindsay Knapp and Meghan Randall looked like drunken sailors in the right corner late in the first half. They seemed to stumble over each other and their defenders for the longest time. The fans enjoyed the moment. Lindsay ended up getting a free kick out of her tenacity. Late in the game, Meghan and Summur Shaikh got tangled up with each other and their defenders deep left while the Toll Gate goalie waited patiently for what could have been a ball with "score" written all over it. Meghan felt there was some illegal ankle-holding going on. For you basketball fans, one of the refs was Mr. Houle, the former Rogers Girls' Basketball Coach. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sand, N. DiNapoli, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Parkinson, Dawson, and Catagallo; Histen and Testa.
Toll Gate 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 2 1 -- 3
Scoring - SK Bethany Moore (Grace Dawson) 10:34;
SK Katie Parkinson 22:57;
SK Christine King (Ellen Histen) 49:40.
Shots on Goal - TG a few; SK dozen.
Winning Goal - SK Bethany Moore.
Saves - TG Carrol 9; SK Stanhope 6.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - TG 2; SK 2.
Attendance - 53.
Sep 29, 1998 (Game #09): at Westerly ($3 admission; no programs.) Disappointing tie It was a very disappointing tie for South. It was almost as bad as that loss to Westerly last year, late in the season. Both teams played aggressively. There seemed to be a lot of pushing and a lot of slow, "I guess I'll call it", delayed whistles. South dominated but it wasn't until the fourth quarter that they were able to find the net. Katie Parkinson had a free kick from 40 yards out. There was a delay as the refs gathered to discuss something - perhaps whether or not it was a direct kick. Eventually Katie wound up and let fly. The goalie seemed to have Katie's kick as it bounced in front of her. But it kept rolling up and off her body as Lauren Testa was flying in from the left side. As soon as the ball came free, Lauren was right there to belt it into the right corner. About seven minutes later, with less than four to play. Westerly got a free kick from about 35 yards out. Immediately, a Westerly player came rushing right over to the ball and kicked. There wasn't the usual 30 seconds of tactical maneuvering (that both sides seem to do on kicks close in before the ref steps in to straighten things out) before the actual shot was taken. South's goalie Sarah Stanhope got in front of the ball but it went right through her legs and the back of the net. She was either caught off guard by how quickly the kick was taken or she lost her concentration. Tough tie! Some odds and ends ... Grace Dawson went down early from an elbow to the face and was slow to get up. When she finally did get up, there seemed to be an equipment problem and she went off on a scavenger hunt. Ellen Histen had a few chances. Her header off a nice Parkinson feed just missed. Her breakaway kick, after being pushed, was unfortunately right to the goalie. Bethany Moore got a nice cross from Christine King but couldn't connect. Christine looked good when she stripped the Westerly sweeper of the ball, refusing to take the first fake. Testa had a half-step on the last defender but was tripped up (no whistle) before she could get a shot off. Jess DiNapoli had a nice clearing kick on a Westerly threat. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Dawson, Gray, and Cantagallo; Histen and Parkinson.
South Kingstown 0 1 -- 1
Westerly 0 1 -- 1
Scoring - SK Lauren Testa (Katie Parkinson) 69:30;
WE Emilie Comeau 76:30.
Shots on Goal - SK many; WE a few.
Winning Goal - None.
Saves - SK Stanhope 5; WE Murano 15.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 3; WE 1.
Attendance - 123.
Oct 01, 1998 (Game #10): at Barrington ($3 admission; no programs.) South and Barrington battle the wind in an exciting, 0-0, tie It was an exciting, lots-of-action game in which the "wind" ended up being the star player. Before the game started, the P.A. announcer said the game time temperature was 60 and the wind was 20 to 30 with a wind advisory for winds up to 55 m.p.h. (The announcer seemed to botch the Barrington names as well as he botched the Rebel names. The fan favorite seemed to be his "Cantagallo". When announcing upcoming games, he referred to Mt. Hope as the defending state champs.) The wind was blowing west to east. The flag above the scoreboard was often out straight. Goalies were almost able to kick to mid-field with the wind at their back. South had the wind on their team in the first half and easily dominated. In the second half, it was Barrington's turn. Fans were complaining about too many whistles. There were a lot. Some almosts ... Katie Parkinson had a high one early on that Barrington's goalie was able to get a hand on. Alesia Gray just missed after gathering a Grace Dawson corner kick. Lauren Testa had a nice cross to Leslie Cipriani. There was some nice teamwork on a Ellen Histen to Katie to Julie Cantagallo - Julie's shot was just wide right. In the second half, Ellen Histen had a step on her defender, was tripped, and yet the call went the other way!? Later, Lauren Testa lofted a nice pass to Ellen but Ellen had two people on her and couldn't do anything. Bethany Moore had a chance when Barrington's goalie couldn't hold on to a ball. Barrington managed to clear. Alesia Gray had a one-on-one at 27:30 of the second. Her shot from 15 yards out went high. Barrington's best opportunity came at about 11 minutes into the second half. A Barrington shot hit the left post. The ball then bounced around for a while, right in front of South's goal. Barrington must have had about four kicks but none succeeded because of the heavy traffic. Sarah Stanhope, who had a good game in goal for the Rebels, could only watch as the ball seemed to bounce around forever. Freshman Nikki DiNapoli continues to impress with her maturity. She has a great ability to soft-stop long balls coming her way, often as she suspends herself in mid-air. A big plus is her ability to then carry the ball forward, as far as she can, into the other end. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sand, N. DiNapoli, and J. DiNapoli; Dawson, Parkinson, and Cantagallo; Histen, Cipriani, and Testa.See source code for 9/30 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
South Kingstown 0 0 -- 0
Barrington 0 0 -- 0
Scoring - .
Shots on Goal - SK dozen; BA dozen.
Winning Goal - None.
Saves - SK Stanhope 9; BA Kenney 12.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 4; BA 2.
Attendance - 270.
Oct 05, 1998 (Game #11): Mt. Hope visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) South loses its concentration late - Mt. Hope wins, 3-2 South was their worst enemy as they just couldn't hold on for a 2-2 tie. They fought back from a 2-1 deficit with four minutes to go but the defense got a little sloppy, committing some needless pushing fouls deep in the Rebels end. With less than a minute to go, Mt. Hope took advantage of yet another whistle for a free kick from the left. Ashley Sampson got control of the free kick right in front of the South Kingstown goal for the winning goal. The loss meant the two teams changed places in the standings. Mt. Hope is now in second, "bye territory", while South is now in third. The Rebels scored in the first two minutes on an Ellen Histen angle shot from the left for a 1-0 lead. Some fine footwork by Bethany Moore was on the front end of that goal. It was Ellen's first goal of the season. She threatened many more times in the first half. The Rebels would like to forget the second half. Bethany Moore went out when she bumped her head - not sure if she ever came back. Mt. Hope scored on a header off a corner about six minutes into the half. Sarah Stanhope almost got to it but the elbow she got in the back impeded her. Mt. Hope's second goal was very pretty. About half-way through the second half, Mt. Hope had a two on one. From the right, close in, came a beautiful centering pass that Alexis Bouchard timed perfectly for an easy header. South's goal that brought them back to a 2-2 tie started on the left with Grace Dawson passing to Katie Parkinson in the middle. Katie found a passing lane as Lauren Testa, now playing up front, angled in from the left. Katie's pass was right on the mark. Lauren put the ball in the right corner from about nine yards out. Katie had a near miss in the second half when her kick hit left post and bounced away. Jess DiNapoli was in street clothes due to a non-soccer related injury. She was missed. The Journal didn't list any assists. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and N. DiNapoli; Histen, Gray, Dawson, and Cantagallo; Moore and Parkinson.
Mt. Hope 0 3 -- 3
South Kingstown 1 1 -- 2
Scoring - SK Ellen Histen 1:59;
MH Kristen Marabello 46:10;
MH Alexis Bouchard (?) 65:00;
SK Lauren Testa (Katie Parkinson?) 76:00;
MH Ashley Sampson 79:30.
Shots on Goal - MH ~lots; SK ~lots.
Winning Goal - MH Ashley Sampson.
Saves - MH Medeiros 13; SK Stanhope 10.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - MH 3; SK 7.
Attendance - 89.
Oct 07, 1998 (Game #12): at Warwick ($0 admission; no programs.) Katie Parkinson leads South to a 2-0 victory over Warwick South finally got back into the win column after almost a two week drought of two ties and a loss. It was a breezy afternoon game that was originally scheduled as a night game. South controlled 85% of the flow but wasn't able to score until the second half when they got two goals. Warwick, of course, came back in the Frantic Four - those last four minutes when every team that seems dead comes back to life, like the dead villain in a horror movie. In the first half, Warwick had an opening when one of their players and South goalie, Sarah Stanhope, met at the ball, just left of the goal, but close in. The Warwick player somehow managed to get a foot on the ball but it went high, over the goal. Later, Lauren Testa had a nice feed to Ellen Histen but Ellen's kick went high. Why did the ref stop the game to wish Lauren Testa a "happy birthday" when it wasn't even her birthday. In the second half, Lauren testa had a great pass to Leslie Cipriani up front but South came up empty. The first goal came about four minutes into the second half when Katie Parkinson tried to push a ball through Warwick goalie, Tina Fogg from about 15 yards out. Katie's rush seemed to stall as she stood there, nose to nose with Tina, with the ball wedged between their feet. But then Katie was able to pop the ball loose. The ball slowly rolled towards the Warwick goal as a Warwick player came running from the left. She then booted the ball right into her own net. The fans nearby, without the best angle, assumed the ball had already crossed the goal line and that the player most likely realized she was a hair late with her attempted save but followed through with her kick anyways. [The newspaper says that it was an own goal. Why did the Warwick Player kick it so hard? Was it an inch from going over the goal line? Did she kick out of frustration? Might the paper have the goals switched?] Halfway through the half, Nikki DiNapoli had a nice feed to Ellen Histen. Ellen's shot was deflected by the goalie off to the right, eventually resulting in a corner kick and then another corner kick, both by Alesia Gray. On the second kick corner, a crowd went up for the ball and someone headed it in for the final goal. Who scored? Was it Ellen or Katie? The ref said it was #17 - Katie. [Could this be the own goal?] What else? ... Leslie Cipriani had a nice run down the right side. Stephanie Gentile had a breakaway but came up empty. At the very end, Alesia Gray had a shot that missed by inches, hitting the crossbar. By the way, why isn't there a standard for the goal posts? They are usually square but today they were round. Sarh Stanhope was disappointed that no one seemed to realize she took a ball to the head in the second half when she confronted a Warwick player's attempt to score. This reporter will give her his Purple Heart. Bethany Moore was out with a sore jaw. Jess DiNapoli was out sick. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and N. DiNapoli; Cantagallo, Parkinson, Dawson, and Gray; Sikorski and Tente.
South Kingstown 0 2 -- 2
Warwick 0 0 -- 0
Scoring - SK Katie Parkinson? - Paper says Own Goal 43:52;
SK Katie Parkinson 63:40.
Shots on Goal - SK lots; WA not many.
Winning Goal - SK Parkinson.
Saves - SK Stanhope 4; WA Fogg 8.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 8; WA 0.
Attendance - 85.
Oct 08, 1998 (Game #13): at Smithfield ($2 admission; no programs.) Testa scores, South gets another shutout, 1-0 The gentle rain started on the way up to Smithfield and continued throughout the game, which was 30 minutes late in starting. The kids got soaked. The footing, however, seemed to hold up despite the wet conditions. Smithfield hid under the trees at half-time. Great offense; great defense by South. The offense looked smoother than it has lately. It was South's second shut-out in two days and their seventh of the season - wow! The players in the back performed well again and have all year. "Give it up" for Christine King, Kyla Sand, the DiNapoli's, Lauren Testa, Bridgette Boyton, Sarah Stanhope, Caitlin Mullen and ... . Lauren Testa, who alternated between the back and front, scored the winning goal 25 minutes into the game. She got a great assist from Ellen Histen, deep on the left side. Lauren was running at top speed when she met the ball about five yards in front of the Smithfield goal. She kicked the ball in stride; the goalie had no chance. Lauren, who spends 85% of her time in the backfield, now has five goals for the season, tying her with Grace Dawson and Katie Parkinson for the team lead. It was a game that South dominated until the last four minutes. Here we go again! What's that all about? Does the leading team have a let down or does the trailing team get a shot of adrenaline from somewhere? A few highlights and/or near misses (would you prefer "near hits"?) ... Katie Parkinson had a nice feed to Leslie Cipriani but the shot went high. Ellen made a good pass to Julie Cantagallo who was held, deep right. Nikki DiNapoli had a great shot on which the goalie made a great high, push-away save. Katie Parkinson had a couple chances. Alesia Gray had a chance but the ball went high. Also ... A nice try on Katie's pass, which Testa let through to Cipriani. Some nice footwork and a near miss by Grace Dawson. Grace had a disagreement with one of the refs - she was setting up for a corner kick but the ref said no - it was a throw-in. Lauren Hathaway looked good up front. She had a great centering pass from the left but no one was there. There was a lot of hustle by her and others (Cipriani and Testa) that resulted in collisions. There were a couple collisions with the Smithfield goalie. Some Smithfield fan, who was constantly yelling instructions to the Smithfield team, told the goalie to keep her knee up after after Lauren Testa ran into her. One ref didn't show until after the second half had started. He got delayed at a Massachusetts court where he was testifying. Jess DiNapoli was back and that was good news. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, bench side, were, Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and N. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Dawson, Gray, and Cantagallo; Tente and Parkinson.See source code for 10/09 Providence Journal article which is "commented out".
South Kingstown 1 0 -- 1
Smithfield 0 0 -- 0
Scoring - SK Lauren Testa (Ellen Histen) 25:00.
Shots on Goal - SK lots; SM few.
Winning Goal - SK Lauren Testa.
Saves - SK Stanhope 3; SM Nardelli 18.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 6; SM 0.
Attendance - 35.
Oct 13, 1998 (Game #14): at Pilgrim ($0 admission; no programs.) Pilgrim beats South, 4-3 It wasn't suppose to end this way. Pilgrim is the last place team. South beat them 5-0 in their first meeting of the year. What happened? It looks like they decided to play the game on the field; not on a piece of paper. The day after SCFun named South's defense as its "Player of the Week", the defense allowed more goals in a single game then they had all season. As a matter of fact, South had not given up more than two goals in a game, in the last three years, until they played Mt. Hope last week and gave up three. Pilgrim played well. They passed well and showed a lot of poise. There were no cheap goals. When Pilgrim wasn't taking advantage of the few cracks in South's defense, they were simply out-hustling South. Pilgrim seemed to have a player in the right place at the right time whenever they needed it. Every time South scored, Pilgrim had an answer within a few minutes. South had goals from Katie Parkinson, and Julie Cantagallo in the first half, which ended tied, 2-2. Katie's was from about 20 yards out, center. It went high into the left side of the goal. About 12 minutes later, Julie gathered up Alesia Gray's corner kick right in front of Pilgrim's goal, after a few players had whiffed on it, and scored the second goal. After Katie scored on a loose ball following a corner kick by Grace Dawson late in the second half, it took Pilgrim less than two minutes to score both the tying and the winning goal. They just worked the ball in and did what they had to do. Katie Parkinson played well. She moves the ball in the right direction very well. It's usually a long, 30 yard kick - either a clearing kick or a leading pass to a teammate deep in the other team's territory. Ellen Histen had a good game. She always seems to be able to get the ball past her defender and into that left corner. It was a disappointing loss. Time is running out and there isn't much room to maneuver with only four games left. It didn't help to have sweeper Christine King out sick with the flu. The DiNapolis were playing at less than 100% also. This is not to take anything away from Pilgrim. They did look good. Does Pilgrim hold classes when T.F. Green is landing runway 1-6? The teachers must have to pause every few minutes and wait for the jets to land. Hopefully the classrooms are sound-proof. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; N. DiNapoli; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cantagallo, Dawson, Gray, and Cipriani; Tente and Parkinson.See source code for 10/16 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
South Kingstown 2 1 -- 3
Pilgrim 2 2 -- 4
Scoring - SK Katie Parkinson 12:18;
PI Julie Hencler (Beth Caromile) 17:20;
SK Julie Cantagallo 24:47;
PI Beth Caromile (Courtney Whorf) 29:05;
SK Katie Parkinson 74:00;
PI Beth Caromile (Norcross) 75:00;
PI Julie Hencler (Beth Caromile) 76:00.
Shots on Goal - SK many; PI almost as many.
Winning Goal - PI Julie Hencler.
Saves - SK Stanhope 9; PI Gardiner 11.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 4; PI 1.
Attendance - 67.
Oct 15, 1998 (Game #15): at North Kingstown ($3 admission; no programs.) Cipriani's goal holds up for a 1-0, shutout of North It was a good game for the impartial fans - were there any? For those fans who were rooting for one team or the other, it was nothing but agony. North Kingstown could have easily won the game with a little luck. Both teams played well, but luck seemed to be in short supply tonight with North getting a little less on their plate than South. The only goal came halfway through the first half. Nikki DiNapoli started things in motion when she sent a beautiful pass from the right side, near mid-field, to a group up front, in the middle of the field. In that group were Ellen Histen and Leslie Cipriani and a couple NK defenders. Suddenly Leslie burst out of the group with Ellen on her side. They had a two-on-nothing. Leslie kicked as the goalie came out. The ball hit the goalie in the chest and bounced back. Leslie then went left and found the loose ball and drove it into the empty goal. That was the game! North had some chances. Twelve minutes into the game they had a corner kick. The ball stayed in front of South's goal for much too long a time as North players tried to score. They must have had three or four kicks at the ball. One hit the cross bar and bounced back. The others hit Rebel defenders. That was a close call. Then late in the game, with less than two minutes to go, North put on a good charge. At one point, Sarah Stanhope was 10-15 yards out of the goal, deep on the left side, in the middle of a small crowd. Luckily the ball went flying back towards mid-field and she was able to get back into position. South also had other chances. Katie Parkinson had a few kicks. One of them, from about 18 yards out, brought a few ooh's and aah's from the crowd. Luckily for North, it went high. If it had been lower and the goalie had tried to stop it, it might have knocked her over. She hasn't kick many much harder. Katie was frustrated on a loose ball towards the end of the game. She was ready to pounce when a team-mate, who didn't know Katie was getting it in gear, did what she had to do. Alesia Gray played a great game. She had a great opportunity in the first half that was set up by Lauren Testa's pass. Unfortunately, Alesia, who had a step on her defender along with a push from the back, was going against the grain and couldn't turn her shot back enough. She also had a nice feed to Grace Dawson who was just beaten out by the goalie on the race to the ball. Close. Meghan Randall had a nice effort that hit the cross bar late in the first half. Leslie had another chance on a ball that Jess DiNapoli set up. Lindsay Knapp had a great crossing pass in front of NK's goal but Ellen just couldn't get to it in time. A North Kingstown player went down in the first half for about four minutes. Hopefully she was okay. North has to do something about those uniforms. You can't read the yellow numbers on the white jerseys. Their fans had a lot of posters on display. It looked like a senior night but it wasn't. Simply a lot of enthusiasm. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were, Stanhope; N. DiNapoli; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cipriani, Parkinson, Cantagallo, and Dawson; Shaikh and Gray.
South Kingstown 1 0 -- 1
North Kingstown 0 0 -- 0
Scoring - SK Leslie Cipriani 21:23.
Shots on Goal - SK lots; NK almost a lot.
Winning Goal - SK Leslie Cipriani.
Saves - SK Stanhope 11; Merdinyan 15.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 2; NK 2.
Attendance - 260.
Oct 20, 1998 (Game #16): East Greenwich visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Histen and Parkinson score, South beats East, 2-0 It was a good game. Both teams played well; there weren't too many whistles; the weather was fairly mild. Ellen Histen had the game winner at the 16:30 mark. She had two defenders on her run down the left side but she managed to get by each of them. As she headed straight for the EG goal, the goalie came out and Ellen, from about 12 yards out, just lobbed it over the goalie's head. Pretty. Katie Parkinson, who usually kills the ball, also showed some great touch. Alesia Gray fed her a ball from the left side just two minutes after Ellen's goal. Katie also lobbed it in, over the goalie's head, this one from about 15 yards out. South almost got on the board 6:50 into the game. East Greenwich had a handball in their box. Grace Dawson took the penalty shot and kicked it low, half-way between Meg Almon and the right corner post. Meg went down and made the save. East Greenwich had opportunities. A header off a corner kick went high early in the game. After half-time, they dominated the game for about 10-15 minutes, until South righted itself and balanced out the flow. In the last couple minutes they had a couple charges. South survived although goalie, Sarah "who-fell-on-their bottom" Stanhope, took a kick to the jaw on a collision. Leslie Cipriani had a good run in the second half. She went down the right side and swung in, heading towards the goal. She kicked and the ball seemed to bounce back and forth between her and the goalie until Meg was able to secure the ball. An EG player went down late in the game, at the 75:00 minute mark. She took a Katie Parkinson blast to the head. It looked like #2, which should be Ali Peake. She walked off the field and got a "glad you're okay" hug from Katie. South's defense played well. Nikki DiNapoli's take-away from two offensive players, that helped break up a charge, was a crowd pleaser. South, which clinched a playoff spot after the last game, trails Mt. Hope in the hunt for that second spot. South is actually one point ahead but isn't a game short in the schedule, as Mt. Hope is. South has two left; Mt. Hope has three. South cannot drop any lower than third. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Parkinson and Dawson; Histen and Cipriani; Sikorski and Gray.See source code for 10/23 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
East Greenwich 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 2 0 -- 0
Scoring - SK Ellen Histen 16:24;
SK Katie Parkinson (Alesia Gray ?) 18:30.
Shots on Goal - EG ~dozen; SK ~dozen.
Winning Goal - SK Ellen Histen.
Saves - EG Almon 4, Cocozza 2; SK Stanhope 7.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - EG 4; SK 5.
Attendance - 227.
Oct 22, 1998 (Game #17): at Toll Gate ($0 admission; no programs.) Histen and Gray combine to help South defeat a stubborn Toll Gate, 1-0, for their 10th shutout of the season Ellen Histen played a great game. She went toe to toe with Toll Gate's big sweeper, #13, all afternoon. Her tenacity eventually resulted in a costly foul by the sweeper. Twenty-four minutes into the second half, Ellen was being her usual pest. The action was deep in Toll Gate territory, just left of the goal. It didn't appear to SCFun that anything was intentional, [think again] but too much force, and too many tangled arms, and the next thing you know, Ellen was body slammed to the mat - except there wasn't a mat. Then that wonderful whistle sound. Alesia Gray took the penalty kick and scored into the top left corner. It was her second goal of the season, both on PK's. Toll Gate's sweeper got a yellow card on the take-down. She left the game and returned right after the Alesia's kick. One ref said she shouldn't be in but was over-ruled by the other ref. Toll Gate fans were getting a little too obnoxious at this point. The near ref then stopped the game and threatened to, as he said, "Now we're going to get rid of some fans.". Supposedly a comment about "... stick to reffing basketball ..." was the last straw for him. He did back down on his threat, however - "Next time". Ellen herself eventually got a yellow card later in the game. SCFun, an impartial but at the same time not too astute observer, saw no unnecessary roughness on Ellen's part. Toll Gate played well. They often had the ball deep in Rebel territory. But South's defense held up. South's goalie Sarah Stanhope had a good game. She slipped on poor footing as she was going down for a ball early in the game but managed t hold on. On another ball, it appeared to be kicked out of her grip by Toll Gate and the ref blew the play dead. The back guys, Christine King, Kyla Sand, Lauren Testa, Jess and Nikki DiNapoli got the job done. Katie Parkinson had a few shots on goal and continued making those wonderful passes. Bethany Moore had a perfect cross in front of Toll Gate's goal but no one was there. Bridgette Boynton had a near miss. Ellen almost got one by the goalie when she had a breakaway a couple minutes before the penalty kick. With Mt. Hope's 2-2 tie with East Greenwich, Mt. Hope and South are now tied for second place. Julie Cantagallo went down six minutes into the second half when her ankle gave out in a collision. She laid motionless for awhile, eventually limping off. Let's hope she's okay. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were, Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Cantagallo and Gray; Dawson and Parkinson; Histen and Cipriani.
South Kingstown 0 1 -- 1
Toll Gate 0 0 -- 0
Scoring - SK-PK Alesia Gray 64:50.
Shots on Goal - SK ~15; TG ~12.
Winning Goal - SK Alesia Gray.
Saves - SK Stanhope 6; TG Goalie 9.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - SK 1; TG 1.
Yellow Card - SK Ellen Histen; TG Their sweeper.
Attendance - 78 (doesn't include people in cars outside the fence).
Landings Runway 3-4 (34 if you prefer) at T.F. Green - 19.
Oct 25, 1998 (Game #18): Westerly visits OMF ($0 admission; no programs.) Katie McBride and Leslie Cipriani lead South over Westerly on senior night, 1-0 It was senior night and also a rare Sunday night game. The weather was mild after a beautiful weekend. Good crowd. Katie McBride, senior co-captain, started and played in her first game of the year. She has been recovering from a bad ankle injury and is still a ways from being 100%. She played until the first whistle, which was 30 seconds into the game and then left to a nice round of applause. All the seniors started. South scored 14:40 into the game when Ellen Histen had a break-away. As Westerly's goalie came out to meet her, Ellen fired. The goalie got in front of the ball but couldn't hold on. As the ball bounced back, Leslie Cipriani was right there and kicked it to the left of the goalie and it made it into the left side of the goal with a few feet to spare. It was Leslie's fifth "game winning goal" of the season. As a matter of fact, all five of her goals this season have been game winning goals. Lauren Testa had a few free kicks and came close but not close enough. One went right through the goalie's legs but wasn't in line with the goal and went off to the right. Lauren had a nice pass to Bethany Moore in the right corner who in turn had a nice crossing pass. Bridgette Boyton was in position but just couldn't get up high enough to get her head on it - close. Katie Parkinson had her usual blasts. She also came close on a couple corners. One she kneed over the top, the other, a header, hit the cross bar. Grace Dawson and Ellen Histen had other chances. Alesia Gray had a corner kick that somehow made it all the way through a crowd of about 15 players right in front of the Westerly goal. Westerly came close on a free kick by Emilie Comeau 25 minutes into the second half. Her kick, from 28 yards out, was looking good. As Rebel goalie Sarah Stanhope went up, the ball hit the cross bar and bounced back into the field of play. Another shutout for the Rebels. How many is that? SCFun has lost count. Congrats to the players and their great defensive play. The seniors were celebrated at half-time. Coach Jim Kelly introduced the "bunch of wackos" to the crowd. From left to right, from Sarah "she can hit 3-pointers and she can block 1-pointers" Stanhope, through Summur Shaikh, Leslie Cipriani, Christine King, Kyla Sand, Katie McBride, Alesia Gray, and to the last but not the least, Lauren "soon to be independent woman on top of the State House" Testa. The seniors got flowers, head bands, and "body pillows" with the blue pillow cases engraved with "Rebels" and also their number. The pillows seemed to be a big hit with the girls. It turned out to be the seniors last game at Old Mountain Field. South may have had a lock on second place going in, even with a worst case scenario of a South loss and a Mt. Hope win in their last games but SCFun doesn't know for sure. SCFun doesn't know the tie-breaker after the head-to-head tie-breaker which would have had them tied in the worst case scenario. Anyways, it doesn't matter since South won the game and the second place "bye". South will now practice until the semis at Pierce begin on November 3rd. Then will play the winner of 6 vs 3. Mt. Hope will be third; Toll Gate or North Kingstown could end up in 6th. Julie Cantagallo sat, letting her ankle that was injured in the last game get some rest. South got a scare when Nikki DiNapoli went down six minutes into the second half. After the game, she said she would be okay after the game. Starting for the Rebels, from left to right, top to bottom, were, Stanhope; King; Sand; Testa; and J. DiNapoli; Parkinson and Dawson; Shaikh, McBride, Gray, and Cipriani.See source code for 10/30 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
Westerly 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 1 0 -- 1
Scoring - SK Leslie Cipriani 14:39.
Shots on Goal - WE a few; SK many.
Winning Goal - SK Leslie Cipriani.
Saves - WE Murano 8; SK Stanhope 7.
Back Saves - .
Corner Kicks - WE 0; SK 8.
Yellow Card - WE Sarah Morin; SK Lindsay Knapp.
Attendance - 353.
Nov 03, 1998 (Game #P1): North Kingstown at Pierce ($4 admission; with programs.) Parkinson's goal gets South into the finals Way to go Katie. Good game by all including the coaches, Jim Kelly and Liz Pilicy. Alesia Gray, please buy some new shoes. Sarah Stanhope, how's your head? How about "that kick" by Katie - did that ever put a charge into the crowd. The ball was found in South County. Here's the ProJo article which isn't much and which includes a few paragraphs that weren't in the newspaper. Rebels return to finals vs. upstart Avengers EAST PROVIDENCE -- The [East Greenwich] victory pushed the Avengers into next Wednesday's finals against defending state champion South Kingstown, which won last night's nightcap here, 1-0 over archrival North Kingstown. Katie Parkinson, who scored two goals in last year's semifinal win over East Greenwich, gave South Kingstown all the offense it needed last night with a goal five minutes into the first half. Parkinson boomed a shot from about 35 yards out that bounced in front of the goal, and skipped over the hands of diving North Kingstown goaltender, Alicia Merdinyan. South had beaten North twice during the season, and Parkinson knew they would be tough to beat again. ``I think they outplayed us for most of the game, but we wanted to win,'' she said. ``We are the defending state champs and we are not going somebody walk over and take away our title.'' North came on strong at the end of the season with a special playoff win over Warwick to get into the postseason, then knocked off Mt. Hope to gain the semifinals. South coach Jim Kelly was relieved to come away with a victory. ``They were on a roll, and steamrolling,'' he said. ``They have had a great run. But our defensive unit did a great job once again.'' The Skippers had nothing to be ashamed of said North coach Ron Clarke. ``I couldn't be any prouder of them. We are capable of coming back, but tonight just wasn't our night,'' he said. By BUD BARKER, Journal Sports Writer Seeing action, besides the starters were Sikorski, Moore Tente, Knapp, N. DiNapoli, and Gentile. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Gray; Parkinson, Dawson, and Cantagallo; Cipriani and Histen.See source code for 11/06 Narragansett Times article which is "commented out".
North Kingstown 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 1 0 -- 1
Scoring - SK Katie Parkinson (Julie Cantagallo) 5:23.
Shots on Goal - NK ~10; SK ~10.
Winning Goal - SK Katie Parkinson.
Saves - NK Alicia Medinyan 6; SK Sarah Stanhope 5.
Back Saves - _.
Corner Kicks - NK a few; SK a few.
Fouls - _. Yellow Cards - _.
Attendance - 231.
Nov 14, 1998 (Game #P2): East Greenwich at Pierce ($5 admission; with programs.) Ellen Histen comes through - South is #1 How sweet it is! South wins the "states" for the second year in a row. This time it was, 1-0, over East Greenwich. Congratulations to everyone, especially Ellen Histen, who won the MVP Award for the second straight year. It was a mild evening for the game that was originally scheduled for a rainy Veterans Day. Both teams played well; there were few whistles. South really dominated the second half. Like most soccer games, either team could have won. East Greenwich had a few chances, especially that break-away when the girl got behind our defense and goalie Sarah Stanhope came out for a "meeting". Then there was that corner kick with Ali Peake (?) charging in from the left to meet the ball. But wait, let ProJo tell the story. For those players who crossed-over two years ago and won the State JV Championship, it was three state titles in a row. It's a good thing Ellen Histen won the MVP Trophy because she can't find the one she won last year. Way to go, Ellen. Remember that crazy game at Pilgrim on October 13th when South had one of their worst loses in years. Guess what? After that game, they were never scored upon again. Sarah Stanhope, one of SCFun's favorite players, had at least 41 saves without giving up a goal in that stretch. Great job! By the way, there are no visitors allowed here from the University of Richmond unless they say hello. Here's the ProJo Article, as crappy as it is. [Calm down!] South won the game and South dominated the game. The body of the article mentions two players from South and eight from East Greenwich! Hello? You would think that South had no defense during the game. Didn't South shutout East Greenwich? Didn't South's defense take the ball away from East Greenwich as soon as East Greenwich got the ball? Didn't East Greenwich's defense take their time getting the ball away from South? Didn't South had an offense? South's defense seems to be taken for granted because they executed so well and so quickly to regain offensive control every time East Greenwich's defense temporarily stopped South's offense. Is that bad? Do the math! What if South had still dominated but not scored and the game had been tied. Would South have gotten only one player mentioned? And what if South had not dominated and the ball control was even, would South have gotten zero players mentioned? East played well and SCFun doesn't want to take anything away from them but come on, how about giving South a little more credit. Check back in a few days, hopefully the Narragansett Times article will be posted and that will mention a few more South players. Again, as SCFun was saying, here's the ProJo article which includes "... made the SAVE ... BUT head referee Tim Finnegan ruled it a goal, ...". BUT - ????? [SCFun has a tape of the goal from Channel 6 if any SK parents want to borrow it. You can see Ellen go down the left side, about half way between the left post and the sideline. Marie Doehler is defending. About three steps over that last white line and about 15 feet from the end-line, Ellen kicks as she goes sliding to the ground. The goalie already appears to have a foot inside the goal about six feet from the post. The ball is headed to her right - it must just clear the post. She starts moving her body to the right as she puts up her right hand. The ball hits her right hand, which is already well inside the goal line. Her momentum causes her to fall to the ground, inside the net. The ball, having bounced off her right hand, starts to fall straight down to the ground. As she lays on the ground, she extends her right leg and kicks. She nicks the ball with her shin or foot before it hits the ground, just enough to cause it to slowly roll straight out. There was never any control of the ball. It doesn't appear as though she was trying to punch the ball, just block it. There was never any save. What do you think after seeing the tape? We know one thing, the ref was closer than the reporter. Did they have this much fun on the Warren Commission?] (Most newspaper articles are 10-15% about the actual game. The rest just seems to be the typical lead-in, quotes, and a lot of rehashing of past games. There is usually very little written about the actual action.) Update: Nov 18, 1998 - There were three articles on the game posted on NT's web site. SCFun put them after ProJo's article. ************************************************ SK's Histen takes center stage in title showdown The MVP award-winning junior is able to spin past a midfielder and score with eight minutes left to give the Rebels the title over East Greenwich. By BUD BARKER Journal Sports Writer EAST PROVIDENCE -- Ellen Histen brought it all home last night. After scoring the game's only goal against East Greenwich, the South Kingstown junior had the game's Most Valuable Player trophy in one hand, a championship medal in the other, and a big smile on her face as the Rebels celebrated their second straight Division I championship with a 1-0 triumph. Histen was still shaking a little after posing for another team picture, but that comes with being a star, especially when you are not used to being one. But Histen was certainly that. She was one of the few Rebels to break through the Avengers tough defense all night, the first Avenger opponent to score a goal in this year's playoffs. It was not that South Kingstown, the defending state champions, who finished second behind Barrington in the regular season, didn't try to create some offense. They outshot East Greenwich by a better than 2-1 margin, but couldn't get many good shots off until Histen was able to spin past a midfielder near the sidelines with less than eight minutes left in regulation. She dashed in deep where two EG defenders caught up to her, but she got around them and unloaded a tough angle shot at the Avenger goal. Meaghan Almon made the save as she backed into the cage, punching the ball back into play. But head referee Tim Finnegan ruled it a goal, signaling that Almon was over the goalline when the save was made. ``It was a midfield controlled game. The whole game was in the middle, and if you can't get by the midfield you can't score goals,'' Histen said. ``I was just waiting for that one chance, and I finally got my break at the end. That's all I needed was that one break. ``I hadn't been getting many breaks so I didn't think it would be me,'' she said. Histen hadn't scored many goals this season, and had never had a game winner, until she knocked in the biggest goal of the year. Both teams were very familiar with the scoreless tie that appeared to be headed for overtime, the Avs with their back-to-back shutouts that got them to the finals after a so-so regular season, and Rebs who had the best defense in the league that produced 12 shutouts including a 1-0 win over North Kingstown in the semifinals. Both teams were waiting for that one break that would give them a chance to score. Like EG did in overtime against regular-season champion, Barrington. ``I didn't want this to become another Barrington game,'' said South coach Jim Kelly. ``We kept doing what we wanted to do, but we wanted to attack a little bit more.'' The Rebs had 7 corner kicks in the second half alone. The longer it was scoreless, the better, said East Greenwich coach Bill Harrison. ``I thought the longer we kept them off the board, the better chance we had to win.'' Harrison said he knew the Avs would have to concentrate on a couple of Rebel players, and Histen was one of them. Harrison said Avenger midfielder Caitlin Rooney did a good job on SK's big scorer, Katie Parkinson, ``and we knew that Ellen was going to be one of their postseason players. ``She was able to find that opening, we knew we had to worry about her too,'' Harrison said. South Kingstown kept the offensive pressure on the entire first half, but that strong East Greenwich defense, anchored by Almon and defensive backs Erin Behbehani, Marie Doehler, Meghan Kane and Erin MacPherson, kept the Rebels off the scoreboard. Almon, who hadn't allowed a goal in the playoffs, with shutouts of Toll Gate and Mt. Hope, stopped seven shots in the first 40 minutes, as the Rebs had twice as many opportunities as East Greenwich. But it was the Avs who had the best shot at scoring. That came late in the period, when Lauren Ciccone busted down the right wing, and sent a perfect cross in front of the net. Alie Peake came barreling in at the far corner, but her shot went wide of the post. SOUTH KINGSTOWN (1): Histen. EAST GREENWICH (0): Halftime: 0-0; Goalie saves: Almon, EG, 15, Stanhope, SK, 5. ****************************************** RISING UP FROM THE SOUTH, REBELS REPEAT SK defends its state soccer championship in 1-0 win over EG By DAVE PLAZIAK, Narragansett Times EAST PROVIDENCE - When the South Kingstown and East Greenwich girls' soccer teams get together, it's sure to be a well-played game on both sides. Saturday night the teams were the last two to play out their 1998 seasons, and the Rebels defeated the Avengers, 1-0, to claim the MetLife Soccer Classic Division I State Championship at Pierce Stadium. After knocking off the Avengers in the semifinals last season and upsetting Mt. Hope in the championship, the Rebels were set on making it back to the finals. ``It was definitely a goal to make it back,'' said S.K. senior keeper Sarah Stanhope. South was the number-two team in the regular-season standings (nehind Barrington), but in Division I, first place doesn't guarantee anyone a spot in the finals. ``It was nice to get here,'' said Stanhope, ``especially since there have been a lot of upsets in this tournament.'' While South Kingstown survived a semifinal scare to beat North Kingstown, East Greenwich provided the state with the biggest upset this year, defeating the top-seeded Eagles, 1-0, in overtime. The 8-8-2 Avengers made the semifinals, defeating Toll Gate, 2-0, also in overtime. This one, too, looked like it would go into overtime, as neither team could threaten consistently. The Rebels and Avengers hadn't played soccer in 11 days, as a severe rain storm cancelled the originally-scheduled final on Wednesday, and the layoff seemed to hinder both squads. The first half was played mostly in the midfield, as offenses were out of sync and shots were few. The ball was being played to the open space for the most part, but there weren't any players running to the ball. In the second half, both teams had better scoring chances, but it wasn't until there were seven minutes left in the game that a goal was scored. South Kingstown's Ellen Histen struck a shot, and East Greenwich keeper Meg Almon was thought to have made a fantastic save, but referee Tim Finnegan signaled a goal, ruling Almon was behind the goal line. ``(Histen) hit it hard enough to score. Meg came up with a nice effort,'' East Greenwich coach Bill Harrison said. Seeing a goal on the scoreboard was a relief to South Kingstown coach Jim Kelly. ``I was afraid we were going into a shootout,'' Kelly said. Stanhope also expressed her happiness in Histen breaking 0-0 deadlock: ``I was really nervous in the first half, but Ellen's goal took the pressure off.'' South Kingstown's score was s result of constant second-half pressure. The Rebels earned five corner kicks in the second 40 minutes, while totaling six for the game. ``With six corner kicks, I was hoping something was going to happen,'' Kelly said, noting how the East Greenwich defense did a good job keeping the Rebs off the board. ``Their keeper (Almon) kept them in the game; she made a lot of good saves,'' Kelly said. Harrison said that South's second-half pressure was what the Avengers were striving for on the other side of the field. He moved Tara Natale to the front line to apply pressure on the S.K. defense. The strategy was for the forwards to harass South's defense in hopes the ball would be coughed up and the second line could get some scoring chances. ``What South did to us is what we wanted to do,'' Harrison said. ``We were playing the way we wanted to play, but South did the same thing.'' Harrison said he was really concerned with two of South Kingstown's scoring threats. Katie Parkinson and Histen were the focus of the East Greenwich defense. Histen scored the goal in the second half, but Parkinson had her chances in the first. Midway through period, she had two shots at the goal. In the 19th minute, Parkinson blasted a ball just wide of the East Greenwich goal. Two minutes later, she had a another chance and took a similar shot on a ball that was left in front by the E.G. defense. The Avengers were the aggressor in the early stages of the half. Sophia Pantazis was the beneficiary of a breakaway chance, when sweeper Lauren Testa and teammate Christine King were crossed up. The ball rolled to Pantazis' feet, and she raced to the penalty box, taking a shot. Stanhope made the save on the short side of the goal. With eight minutes remaining in the half, East co-captain Ali Peake almost scored her second crucial goal of the playoffs. Lauren Ciccone made a perfect crossing pass. Peake ran on the ball and lept for a header but made contact with her leg and the ball went wide. Pantazis had another breakaway late in the half, but Stanhope attacked the play and cleared the ball before a shot was made. The South Kingstown defense continued to stifle the Avengers in the second half as the group collected a shutout. ``Our defense is awesome,'' Stanhope said, adding ``I'd say they are the best in the state.'' The East Greenwich defense suffered through some tense moments in the second half. In the 50th minute, with the ball loose in front of its own net, Almon collected the ball only a moment before Grace Dawson could get a foot on it. Six minutes later, Parkinson passed the ball to Julie Cantagallo, who blasted a shot just over the goal, as it caromed off the football crossbar. Meghan Kane blocked a South Kingstown chance with Dawson and Cantagallo working a passing game. After a South Kingstown corner, Histen found open space in the box, but was denied. On the counter-attack, Pantazis juggled the ball past Testa and beat King to get a break-in. Her shot slipped wide to the short side. A minute later, Histen scored the game winner. She wasn't sure she was going to get her chances toward the end of the game, considering the East Greenwich defense was keeping her at bay. ``The last time I went out on the field I'm like `I'm going to get one.' As soon as I got the ball on that break I was like ` yeah,' '' she said. ``The midfield totally controlled (the game), and I finally got my break at the end. All I needed was that one break to get my goal.'' With four minutes to play, Parkinson hit a shot just over the cross bar. East Greenwich had an offensive surge at the end of the game. Natale headed the ball on goal in an effort to tie the game, but she was denied by Stanhope in the final minute. *********************************************** Difference between teams was a matter of inches By MICK COLAGEO, Narragansett Times EAST PROVIDENCE - It was getting to be about that time ... ``I was so worried,'' admitted South Kingstown goalkeeper Sarah Stanhope, who thought for sure she was going to have to face overtime in last Saturday night's Division I Championship in the MetLife Soccer Classic. Her team had thoroughly outplayed East Greenwich in the second half but had nothing to show for it. Even in the first half, the Avenger generated few scoring chances, but the ones they had were scary ones. ``They had some good shots. Not too many of them, but they were shots,'' said Stanhope, who saw most of those opportunities sail wide of the post to her right. The battle of the midfield became the platform upon which the state championship would be won or lost. ``Lauren Testa, and her leadership,'' said Stanhope, ``I think she brought the team here (into the winner's circle), and Ellen (Histen), for scoring that goal.'' ``We play five in the midfield, and East Greenwich plays either three or four,'' added Testa. ``We have to control the midfield because there's so many people there. One can go up as a forward, one can drop back as a double stopper. It's easy for us to control the midfield when we have five midfielders.'' Alesia Gray was also a main cog in the Rebels' fight to control the middle of the field. ``We tried to control the middle and send it wide to the corners so we could send the forwards,'' said Gray. ``We anticipated that it was going to come down to the midfield,'' said E.G. Coach Bill Harrison. ``For some reason, in the second half, we lost it in the midfield. We really lost possession of the game.'' South eventually outnumbered the Avengers where it mattered most, in the midfield. ``We were only playing with one forward (Histen),'' said Gray, ``so we were trying to get the ball up to her and try and keep everything calm and under control.'' Just the opposite of how it was for the Rebels when the clock ran to zero. Testa, for her part, was never worried. ``I knew we were going to take it all the way,'' said Testa. ``Everyone's like `State Champions, you're never going to do it again,' and I'm like `yeah, watch me.' '' Road more traveled Some of the S.K. and E.G. players have a history together on travel soccer teams, sometimes with South County Youth Soccer teams incorporating their Kent County counterparts on the same squad. It's an experience S.K.H.S. coach Jim Kelly feels no doubt contributes to the year-in, year-out contention of the Rebels and the Avengers. ``Every week during the summer,'' says Kelly, pointing out the players' dedication. ``They go nine months of the year, and they work 'em hard. ``Some of these kids are on the same team. Nikki (DiNapoli) and Lauren Ciccone, they're out there and they're going `how ya doing? whadaya say?' It's the youth-soccer program. The skill comes from there and we just take it and work with it.'' Spell team with an M Senior co-captain Kate McBride missed the entire season due to a broken left ankle, but she was in uniform Saturday and nonetheless a part of S.K.'s victory parade. ``I figure because I can't make any noise on the field I have to make it off the field,'' said McBride, who for two straight state finals has been the Rebels' loudest cheerleader. ``I've kind of been smiling all the way, keeping my head up about it.'' McBride broke her ankle playing soccer in a Maryland tournament last May. Last year, she suffered a late-season ankle sprain and missed the playoffs. As for the idea of playing in college: ``I'm not going to give up,'' she said. ``No way.'' ****************************************** Histen's winning tally needed a doubletake By MICK COLAGEO, Narragansett Times EAST PROVIDENCE - Ellen Histen wasn't out all hours of the night partying, nor did she wake up Sunday morning to breakfast in bed. No, the Most Valuable Player in the MetLife Soccer Classic was back on her fast feet, ringing up customers at 7 a.m. at CVS. What a difference 12 hours make. The night before, during the waning moments of Saturday night's Division I girls' soccer state final, Histen finally got the chance to use her quick feet along the left side of the field. Histen fired the shot but looked away when East Greenwich's Meg Almon punched it away. Then Histen saw referee Tim Finnegan give the signal: G-O-O-O-O-O-O-A-A-L-L. Finnegan ruled that Almon had fallen back into her net and that the ball broke the plane of the goal line, awarding the Rebels a 1-0 lead with 7:15 showing on the Pierce Stadium clock. The lead stood, S.K. defended its state title, and Histen was awarded her second Most Valuable Player trophy in as many years. A year ago, from almost the same spot, she had scored the winning goal in the Rebels' 3-1 victory over Mount Hope. Unlike last year's winning goal, this one came as a total surprise for Histen, who hadn't realized she had scored. ``No, because when she made the save it bounced back out, and I thought, like, that it wasn't going to go in, but the I saw the ref. He put his arm out, that's when I knew it was in,'' said Histen. ``(Almon) was deep in the net, but I thought she punched it. That's why I thought it didn't go in because, when I looked up, it was outside the net.'' Almon, for her part, says it didn't cross the line. Not to sour-grape Histen's late-game goal. The Avengers were, afterall, thoroughly outplayed in the second half. ``It wasn't (beyond the goal line). My body was, but the ball wasn't,'' said Almon. ``The whole ball has to break the plane for it to be a goal. The whole ball didn't break the plane. It may have hit the plane.'' Almon was shocked to hear the Finnegan's signal. ``Yeah, it's kind of tough to make the call from the 18 (yard line) when the balls' on the end line,'' she said. ``The call's going to stick but it's too bad it had to be like that - heartwrenching.'' Histen, like all other attacking players, found herself stifled for the better part of the night. ``It wasn't really the defense, it was mostly like a midfield game,'' she said. ``The whole game was in the middle. The midfield totally controlled it, and I finally got my break at the end. All I needed was that one break to get my goal.'' The way things were going and with time running down, Histen was beginning to wonder if any player on either side would ever see daylight. ``I was too because I wasn't getting any breaks, so I didn't think it would be me, but when (Coach Jim Kelly) put Beth (Moore) in, Beth got a couple of good chances. I thought maybe it would be her,'' she said. Then came her big chance. ``The last time I went out,'' said Histen, ``I'm like `I'm gonna get one.' As soon as I got the ball on that break, I was like `yeah.' '' *************************************************** Seeing action, besides the starters were Knapp, Sikorski, Nikki DiNapoli, Shaikh, and Moore. Starting for the Rebels, from right to left, bottom to top, were Stanhope; King; Sand, Testa, and J. DiNapoli; Gray; Cantagallo, Parkinson, and Dawson; Histen and Cipriani.
East Greenwich 0 0 -- 0
South Kingstown 0 1 -- 1
Scoring - SK Ellen Histen 72:00.
Shots on Goal - EG ~10; SK ~20.
Winning Goal - SK Ellen Histen.
Saves - EG Meg Almon 15, Sarah Stanhope 5.
Back Saves - _.
Corner Kicks - EG a few; SK 6.
Fouls - _. Yellow Cards - _.
Attendance - 318.Tournament MVP: Ellen Histen, South Kingstown
All Tournament Team: SK - Grace Dawson, Julie Cantagallo, Christine King, Katie Parkinson EG - Meaghan Almon, Alie Peake, Marie Doehler NK - Kelsey Baker, Alicia Merdinyan BA - Carly Williamson, Elizabeth Charnley
| # | Name | Games | Games Scored In | Goals | Assists | Total Points | Game Winning Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | APICERNO | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | BOYNTON | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | CANTAGALLO | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | CIPRIANI | 18 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 5 |
| 5 | DAWSON | 18 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 0 |
| 18 | J. DiNAPOLI | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | N. DiNAPOLI | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | GENTILE | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | GRAY | 15 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 19 | HATHAWAY | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 21 | HISTEN | 18 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 12 | KING | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | KNAPP | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ? | McBRIDE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MOORE | 16 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| 17 | PARKINSON | 18 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 18 | 2 |
| 23 | RANDALL | 15 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 16 | SAND | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | SHAIKH | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | SIKORSKI | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | TENTE | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | TESTA | 18 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1 |
| _ | OWN GOAL | 1 | 1 | 1 | _ | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 18 | 16 | 37 | 17 | 91 | 12 | |
| _ | Name | Games | Saves | Goals Against | |||
| GK | MULLEN | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
| GK | STANHOPE | 18 | 115 | 12 | |||
Offense: (G = Game; S = Season; C = Career; TG = Team Game; TS = Team Season)
Most assists:
(G) __ __________
(S) 4 Tammy Borrelli (1996)
(C) __ __________
(TG) __ __________
(TS) 22 1996
Most goals:
(G) __ __________
(S) 8 Katie Parkinson (1998)
(C) __ __________
(TG) 5 Several occasions (1996, 1998)
(TS) 37 1998
Most game winning goals:
(S) 5 Leslie Cipriani (1998)
(C) 8 Katie Parkinson (1996-1998)
Most points:
(G) __ __________
(S) 18 Katie Parkinson (1998)
(C) 48 Katie Parkinson (1996-1998)
(TG) __ __________
(TS) 91 1998
Defense: (G = Game; S = Season; C = Career; TG = Team Game; TS = Team Season)
Saves:
(G) __ __________
(S) 127 Shellie Parkinson (1996)
(C) ___ __________
(TG) __ __________
(TS) 129 1996
The 1998 season spanned 87 days from the tryouts until the last game. The 1997 season spanned 84 days from the tryouts until the last game. The 1996 season spanned 85 days from the tryouts until the last game.