Sports
Rain Soaked Skippers Victorious Over Cumberland Clippers
Two goals in the second half sealed the Skippers win.
The North Kingstown boys' varsity soccer team defeated the Cumberland Clippers 2-1 in a rain-drenched, hard fought game at Cumberland Tucker Field.
The Skippers' two goals came in the second half. The first, which tied the game at one, was scored by senior Troy Crawford.
"We got a great play up front from one of our leaders in Troy," said North Kingstown head coach Kyle Froberg.
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The second goal followed a corner kick by Skippers midfielder Matt Lamb to forward Christan Ellerbe who headed the ball to put his team ahead 2-1. The Skippers never looked back and shutdown the Clippers offense for the last 28 minutes.
"They controlled the first 10 or 15 minutes of game and the second half was all us," coach Froberg said.
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One of the biggest factors in the North Kingstown win was Ben Jones, goalkeeper and team co-captain. He had several key saves and his only blunder was due to the weather. Early in the first half, Cumberland senior Jonathan Pais made a kick to the right of the goal and Jones had it all but saved until it slipped out of his hands.
"That first goal they did what we told our guys to do 'take shots in the rain' and it just happened to go through our keeper's hands," coach Froberg said.
Cumberland forward Ryan Rei made several excellent shots from all angles, but Jones made some great saves and stopped all his attacks.
The Skippers were able to pull ahead without contributions from a few of their important players.
"We had three key players out today," coach Froberg said. "Some are day-to-day and some maybe another week or two."
The Skippers' victory over Cumberland improved their record to 3-4-3. Last season, the Skipper's tenth game was a turning point for the team as they went into that game 4-4-1 and finished the season with an 11-7-3 record. That team also made it to the semifinals, falling short to Cranston 2-1.
"We need to string as many wins together as we can," coach Froberg said. "We had a lull in the middle of the season but now it seems like we're starting to play better."
