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    • St. Raphael defeats EWG, 4-0, for D-III girls soccer championship
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    St. Raphael defeats EWG, 4-0, for D-III girls soccer championship

    Pabio Posted on

    PROVIDENCE — The St. Raphael women’s soccer team has scored plenty of goals this fall, scoring 123 goals in 21 games — regular season and playoffs — heading into Saturday’s Division III championship game.

    At half-time, the Saints found themselves in a scoreless match against Exeter-West Greenwich but they were not worried.

    It was only a matter of time.

    After being stoned for 50 minutes by the Scarlet Knights‘, goalkeeper Cora Cranston, St. Raphael finally got the break she needed. Kamarie Cosme collected a rebound in the box, scored the first goal and everything changed. The Saints scored three more before the game ended – with Cosme’s sister, Kiara, scoring two – in a 4-0 victory over Exeter-West Greenwich that gave them the Division III title.

    “It’s so good,” Kamarie Cosme said. “I feel like our team, we worked so hard for this moment.”

    “I’ve never been more proud,” said St. Raphaël senior captain Karina Contreras. “I’ve never been so happy.”

    Championships aren’t built overnight and this title certainly wasn’t either.

    In 2021, St. Raphael was a Division III runner-up, but the last two seasons did not go as well, as the team finished with losing seasons and missed the playoffs.

    Things changed this fall and it was visible from day one when the Saints started racking up wins and racking up goals. The offense was different and it wasn’t hard to see why.

    “That team, it was just the connection,” Kamarie Cosme said. “We have chemistry as a team.”

    “The last two years, the connection and the atmosphere of our game, we were very down,” Contreras said. “Coming into this year, with the girls we picked…we knew this was going to be our year.”

    In the semifinals, St. Raphael found itself down early against Narragansett before the offense came alive in the second half to tie the game and Karina Contreras scored the go-ahead goal late in the 4-3 victory.

    The Saints were hoping to avoid a similarly slow start against Exeter-West Greenwich. The play in midfield was nothing short of spectacular, getting possession after possession with the offense turning into chance after chance.

    But every potential goal ended scoreless because of the play of Cranston and the Exeter-West Greenwich defense. Cranston’s best save came late in the first half, when Contreras smoked a ball from 25 yards out that appeared to be heading toward the upper 90 before Cranston came up with a one-handed save and passed the ball over the crossbar.

    “We were definitely really cooped up,” Cranston said. “We knew what was going to happen because they had a very solid offense and that’s what they were going to do.

    “After the first save in the first half, I was happy after that.”

    Scoreless at halftime, the Saints knew what they had to do.

    “We knew our second half, we had to take it back,” Contreras said. “We had to light a fire. This didn’t worry us too much.

    “We just liked to stay calm,” Kamarie Cosme said. “We don’t want to get freaked out.

    “It was very frustrating with all the shots we took but didn’t make.”

    Kamarie Cosme had some good looks early on. Her shots missed in every way possible – wide, high, into a defender, saved by Cranston – but looking at a ball in the box after Cranston made another save, Cosme made sure it counted, sending the shot for Leading 1-0 with 28:53 to play.

    “On a rebound, I just look at the open net,” Kamarie Cosme said. “I just have to look for open corners.

    “On a shot like that on the six, it’s just a tear.”

    “It was just a relief,” Contreras said. “I’m so glad she did it because it captivated everyone.

    “That got everyone excited and we knew we had it after that.”

    It took less than five minutes to get a second, as Valentina Ramirez scored one to take a 2-0 lead. It’s the most dangerous lead in football, but the Saints extended it with 19:03 left when the Cosme sisters scored a goal, with little sister Kiara scoring. Kiara Cosme added another with 11:54 left and it was easy to see how things were ending.

    “We had them in their own half the whole time,” Contreras said. “We just had to take our chance.”

    No comeback was expected for Exeter-West Greenwich, which experienced a huge turnaround this fall after winning just one game last season.

    “It was beyond words. I can’t even describe it,” Cranston said. “Last year was a very bad year for us. This year we had more wins than the last two years…and I couldn’t have asked for a better year or a better team to play with.

    Pabio
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