Area boys soccer teams gearing for playoffs

Watch out for McCourt.

While the Lincoln and North Cumberland Middle School boys soccer teams clinched the regular season championships in the Northern and Central divisions respectively, the McCourt Middle School team thrust itself into the playoff limelight in the last two weeks of the season.

Closing with five consecutive wins, McCourt finished in second place in the Northern Division and earned a playoff spot for the first time in several years.

After dropping a narrow 1-0 decision to undefeated North Cumberland, McCourt went on a rip, beating Ponaganset, 4-3, Burrillville, 7-0, Woonsocket, 8-0, North Smithfield, 2-1, and North Smithfield again by the same 2-1 score.

Second through fourth places were up for grabs in the final week of the season, and the McCourt boys came through. They trailed in both North Smithfield games, 1-0, but each time came back to win.

The McCourt team's final record was a significant improvement over last year. Head Coach Dino Giorgio, in his second season with the team, told the players and parents that the goal for this year was to make the playoffs. He felt confident that the team had the talent and would be up to the task.

Giorgio said his assistant coaches, Nick Villa and Brent Elliot, made their debut at the middle school coaching level this season and both had a very positive effect on the team.

Contributing significantly to the team's success was the play of goalkeeper Joe Fine, an eighth-grader playing soccer for the first time. The team's core of returning players was led by captain Tyler Mobrice, who was key in the midfield position, along with fellow captain Ben Tribelli.

Cody Beaudette, also one of the team's captains, missed a good portion of the season with a hip fracture, but came back to play in the last two games to score several critical goals.

Giorgio said Brandon Hollinghurst, Daniel Salazar, and Jose Barrientos were great ball handlers at the forward wing positions, and the strong defensive play of Alex Amaral, Ethan Bentley, Cameron Hollander and sweeper Nick Tribelli enabled the team to limit the opposition.

LMS and NCMS were both undefeated this year, two of the three teams in the state to enjoy that distinction. The other was Curtis Corner of South Kingstown. All three will be awarded top seeds in the state playoffs.

LMS coach John D'Aloisio said it has been his team's defense that has glittered this year. The Lions have allowed the fewest goals of any team in the state, three, while scoring 48 in 12 games.

"And one of those goals came on a penalty kick," said the coach. "It's been a really solid team effort defensively. We've been able to control the ball in the other team's zone, and that has played a key to our success."

That effort has been led by Jon Ariza, Dan Amirault, Greg Forgue, Ron Labrie and Eric Zannini, with keeper Doug Harrison there to back them up.

In his first year as head coach, D'Aloisio said he was handed a group of talented players.

"When you get good players, they make a coach look good," he said. "We'll be ready, but we're cautious about the playoffs because everyone starts at 0-0 now."

After securing the division title with a narrow 2-1 win over Gallagher of Smithfield last week, LMS downed Cole of East Greenwich, 3-0, with Mateusz Puzanowski scoring all three goals. D'Aloisio said the team has many front-line players who are capable of putting the ball in the net, making them multi-dimensional.

NCMS completed its perfect 12-0 with a pair of romps last week, beating Burrillville and Woonsocket by identical 9-0 scores even though coach Anthony Silva emptied his bench early in both games.

The team only allowed eight goals all season while piling in 62, and its sixth-grade keeper, Tony Billeri, allowed only three scores that were not on penalty or direct kicks.

The offense has been fueled by Kyle Courtney and Bobby Bernardo with 19 and 17 goals respectively, but there are several other North Stars who are capable of putting the ball in the net, like Brendon Abilheira-Cargill, Ryan O'Neill and Dante Baldelli, all with multiple scores during the season.

"Kyle Sutcliffe is the heart and soul of our defense," said Silva. "He's always winning headballs and chasing things down."

Other major contributors to the defense are John Buckley, Spencer Ross and sweeper Duncan Nunes.

"Nunes has been just incredible and is a really smart player who just doesn't make mistakes," said Silva. "He's just a really solid defender."

Also a first-year coach, Silva said his goal coming in was to teach his players some solid soccer and possibly make the playoffs. He never expected to go through an undefeated season.

"These kids really love soccer and they care about this team" said Silva. "What's happened so far is just awesome."

North Cumberland was scheduled to host Cole of East Greenwich in the opening round of the single-elimination playoffs on Thursday, and Lincoln was hosting Ponaganset. McCourt was hosting Feinstein of Coventry, and Gallagher of Smithfield was hosting Mount St. Charles.