Gallagher girls win showdown, earn playoff slot

Coach Sarah Busam's Gallagher Middle School team found itself in a must win situation last week and the team came through with a pair of huge wins, 3-1 over Deering and 2-1 over Davisville. The second win gave Gallagher third place in the Central Division.

"We went into the Deering game knowing that we had beaten them easily the first time around and I told our girls not to take anything for granted," said Busam. "They didn't and played hard to earn the win. We started off a little slow, but came on as the game went. By the end, we showed that we were getting ready for the showdown with Davisville."

GMS leading scorer Vickie Carter got her team on the board first against Deering and then Jenna St. Lawrence popped in her first goal of the season.

"We were all very excited for Jenna because she had come so very close on several shots this season, and finally got one to go in," said Busam.

Deering narrowed the lead to 2-1 on a direct kick score, but a Miranda Peloquin goal sealed the deal for GMS.

GMS was only a penny ahead of Davisville in the standings and a loss would have put Gallagher behind Davisville in the standings.

Once again Carter gave GMS the lead with an early score, assisted by Peloquin. Davisville tied the score and the back-and-forth game remained tied until there were only two minutes remaining when St. Lawrence took a pass from Carter and booted it home for the winning score.

"That game showed that we are a very good team and can make some noise in the playoffs," said Busam. "That was probably the best game we've played. Keeper Jenna Pike played the whole game and had 17 saves. GMS was scheduled to visit Ponaganset for the opening round of playoffs that start today, Thursday, Oct. 29.

Facing a do-or-die situation, the North Smithfield girls middle school soccer team extended its season by at least one game by edging defending state champion Mount St. Charles Academy, 1-0, last week to slip past Mount in the standings and take the Northern Division's fourth and final playoff slot.

Veronica Hardy enjoyed her weekend after scoring the game's only goal on a penalty kick.

With the win, North Smithfield improved to 6-4-2 for the season, good for a third place tie with Burrillville. Burrillville and NSMS split their two games during the season, but North Smithfield allowed fewer goals and scored more for the season, and could be awarded the division's third seed. A meeting was scheduled this week to determine playoff pairings.

"Our girls played an absolutely great game and we got that goal in the first half and then played outstanding defense," said NSMS coach Sarah Dupre. "We only have four eighth graders on this team and our seventh graders, like Melissa Juhr and Claudia Lamoureux, really stepped it up on defense."

The first time that the teams met, Mount came up with a late goal and the game ended in a tie.

North Smithfield also defeated North Cumberland Middle School, 2-0, and McCourt Middle School, 6-1 last week. Division champion Lincoln Middle School finished its season with a 10-1-1 record and will receive a top seed for the playoffs.

Lincoln cruised to victory on Monday against McCourt with a 5-0 shutout. Two days later Lincoln closed out the regular season at Diamond Hill with another 5-0 shutout against North Cumberland.

Ponaganset at 7-3-2, took the division's second seed. In its final week, the Lady Chieftains topped Burrillville, 3-1, just got by North Cumberland, 1-0, and then tied Mount, 1-1.