Girls Soccer: Thunderbolts Shock Saints in Overtime Thriller

Both teams' offenses were firing on all cylinders on Saturday afternoon at McKinnon-Alves Soccer Complex in Pawtucket. In the end, a controversial call and a sensational overtime period led to the Cranston East Thunderbolts coming away with a much-deserved 6-4 victory.

Saints sophomore Kyanna Ivey-Jones started the scoring in the second minute of the game when she finished a breakaway opportunity.

The Thunderbolts maintained possession for about 80% of the game and had a ton of scoring chances. In the 20th minute, they scored the equalizer when junior Selena Canales drilled the rebound shot into the back of the net.

With about 10 minutes left, Bolts junior Caroline Lima's shot to the far post sailed over the cross bar by a few inches.

Freshman Sam Canales received the ball at the corner flag in the 37th minute and made a fantastic play. She cut inside, dribbled past two defenders and blasted the shot, giving her team a 2-1 lead.

"Sam has great ball control and she was on her game today," East's coach, Lauren Tomasso said.

St. Raphael once again capitalized on an opportunity in the beginning of a period. The Saints sophomore Trina Lomba caught the Bolts keeper out of position and lofted the ball into the air and into the back of the net, tying it at 2.

East responded quickly, re-taking the lead two minutes later. Sam Canales crossed the ball from the right sideline and Lima received it at the far post and scored.

Sam Canales came close to upping the lead to 4-2 about 15 minutes into the second half, when she hit the post.

There was a controversial call with five minutes left in the game. Lomba was attacking down the left sideline and East senior Erin Torres was defending. Lomba created all of the contact and was pushing off, while Torres had her hands in the air, to show the referees she was not pushing off. However, a foul was called on Torres, giving the Saints a golden opportunity to tie the game, and one they should not have had.

Lomba proceeded to take the free kick and placed it beautifully into the upper 90 far post, tying the game at 3.

At the very end of regulation, the referees made another call that could have changed the outcome of the game. The Bolts had a few shots on net off a corner kick and the ball was never cleared out of the offensive zone. An East player shot it into the back of the net, from the top of the penalty box, but the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the half.

The game or a half is not supposed to end while a team still has a chance to score. In order for the game to have ended, the Saints should have had to clear the ball out of their defensive third, by rule.

The game headed to an overtime period, two ten minute halves. In the first minute of the overtime, St. Raphael sophomore Amber Armenti was fouled from behind in the penalty box and Ivey-Jones gave her team the 4-3 lead by sinking the penalty kick.

Cranston East dug deep and willed their way to a victory on Saturday afternoon. In the second period of overtime, they dominated and converted on their scoring chances. Sam Canales tied the game at four in the 3rd minute of the second half of overtime.

Lima scored two goals in a span of two minutes, giving East a 6-4 lead, which they would never relinquish. It would be the final score and they advance to the second round of the playoffs, where they will face off against the winner of the Narragansett and Shea opening round game. The game will be played on Thursday afternoon at 5 pm at Cranston Stadium.

"Caroline Lima has been on target all season and is an unbelievable player," Tomasso added.

"It was frustrating [to be in the overtime period] because we dominated the game," Lima said, "We felt that they didn’t deserve to win."