Friars Win World Cup

Or so you'd think.......
The opening weekend of the season was time for the inaugural Ocean State Cup - the brainchild of the four Division 1 soccer programs here in the smallest state in the Union. The elimination-format tournament took place at the home site of two of the participants, with the 3rd/4th place game and championship match being hosted by none other than the Bears of Brown University at Stevenson field. In the opening "semi-finals" URI traveled to Providence College, while we had the short trek up Route 146 to take on the Bulldogs of Bryant University.
BRYANT 0-4 BROWN
Hurricane Earl had muted down into more of a series of scattered heavy showers and wind gusts by the time it had traveled this far north. Yet despite the mellowing, the weather proved to be a far from ideal atmosphere in which to play the first showpiece match of the year. Coming off the back of an encouraging win at UNH in pre-season, the boys were ready and prepared for the challenge presented by a direct and physical opponent in Smithfield.
A fairly even first twenty minutes started to become somewhat one-sided as our boys took hold of the game. Spaces in the home defence began to appear, and a number of half-chances came and went before Oki got on the end of a fine passing move on the left flank and he was left with simplest of jobs to slot the ball home over a flailing home 'keeper from 12 yards out. 1-0 Bears and you could already sense that more was to come....
The second half started almost perfectly for Brown as the returning-from-injury T-Mac bamboozled the home right back, got to the by-line and sent a teasing ball across goal that Sean Rosa made no mistake with. 2-0 after 48 minutes...
A couple of testing shots were fired in at Grandstrand from distance who managed to hold onto a slippery ball that was fired in at pace. But, truth be told, he was never truly tested and was a virtual spectator for much of the match as a solid back-four of Wallsy, Robbo, Fluffy and Dylan (gotta come up with a nickname for the road-runner!) kept a physical yet pedestrian home attack at bay.
As the home side became more frustrated the tackling became reflective of their mood, and it was no surprise when the centre-back got his marching orders for a second rash challenge. What was surprising was that the tackle was the result of Wallsy (yes Wallsy) beating him for pace down the line!
A short while later our peroxide-haired left midfielder from Maine made the result secure with two goals of his own - a well placed free kick from 25 yards out and a tap in from about 25 inches out....
As the game wore down it was an opportunity to blood some of the young promising talent in the squad, and virtually every player on duty made debut minutes in a Brown uniform. Definitely a nice way to kick off the 2010 season!

BROWN 0-0 PC
If the weather had been uncooperative on Friday, Labor Day 2010 was the antidote.... glorious sunshine bathed Stevenson Field as the boys, resplendent in their shiny new white kit, took to the pitch to take on the Friars of Providence College. It has been a long time (five years) since this in-state rivalry had taken place during the regular season. Bragging rights in regular-season 2006 had gone to the Friars, while our boys had been victorious in the last few Spring season meetings... So here we were again, with some silverware at stake this time....
It was a flat atmosphere on college hill as the match kicked-off and the play from both teams certainly reflected that in the opening stages. While our boys were certainly not playing at their maximum potential, there was little threat on either goal in the first 45 minutes. Some choice words from Pat Adidas Laughlin during the interval re-focussed and energized the home team, and PC were on the back-foot for much of the second half. Yet clear-cut chances were still at a premium and neither goalkeeper had very much to do. Inevitably the match entered extra-time and by this stage it appeared that the visitors from Admiral Street were content to see the game out. At one stage there was an APB put out for the PC goalkeeper as he went to retrieve a game ball to take a goal kick....
In the closing minutes we scored a perfectly good goal to win the game, yet the referee spotted a "handball" by Fluffy as he rose to head the ball into the danger area. Apparently Fluffy is now wearing large white goalkeeper gloves in games (maybe he thinks they look cute with the turquoise and pink cleats??). Frustration, yet hardly surprising given the performance of the man-in-the-middle.....
And so, the game ended in a draw. Due to the nature of the competition it had been decided that an actual champion had to be declared and so the lottery of the penalty shootout ensued. I was fearful in the extreme when the hand of our only English player went up to volunteer for a spot kick...... incredulous when our goalkeeper did the same! In true English style Wallsy had his penalty saved and up-stepped former Bruno United player Wilder Arboleda to sink the decisive penalty for the visitors (where's the loyalty, how dare a Bruno player score at Stevenson Field!!!). Mad celebrations ensued for the Friars - we were left wondering exactly what all the fuss was about....
Two games..... zero goals against...... four goals scored...... no major injuries from the games..... Not a bad way to start.....