Boys Under-14 Lightning Squad Takes Tough Loss

The Johnston Lightning Under-14 Boys C Team went into last Sunday's contest seeking their first win of the second winter session against the Warwick Firefighters Association squad at Wide World of Indoor Sports in North Smithfield.

The local boys finished their first session with a record of 2-4-2, explained head coach Mickey LaRose, adding the team had posted an 0-1-1 record as of Feb. 6.

LaRose, who has been coaching youth soccer teams for the past five, years said all the games have been close, and that he wants to keep the games fun and interesting.

The Lightning were faced with the challenge of missing one of their goal keepers, Devin Atkinson, as they competed against the WFFA (1-0-1 overall). LaRose assigned Sam DeCosta to net duty for the game.

Fifteen minutes into the first half, Johnston's center defenseman Liam Stamp made the Lightning's first goal of the game. Left attacker Matthew Sparadeo added to Johnston's score with a shot right past the WFFA goalkeeper.

With less than one minute left in the first half, left forward Dan Medici made a beeline for the net and scored the third goal. Going into the second half, Johnston trailed by a score of 5-3.

LaRose called on the boys to be quick to the soccer ball and not to let their opponents shoot without being challenged.

The only Johnston player to score in the second half was forward Chris Cardenas, as Warwick added another two goals to eventually win the contest, 7-4.

The Lightning coaches took stock of the team's performance after the game.

"It was a long time since we got beat this bad," said coach LaRose. Assistant coach Carlos Cardenas said the boys played hard and some adjustments may be made for future contests.

The C team will compete against another Johnston team on Feb. 13 at 3:00 p.m. at Wide World of Indoor Sports.