The CCRI Lady Knights women’s soccer team hosted Montgomery College from Rockville, Md., on Sunday at the CCRI soccer complex in Lincoln and defeated the Raptors 6-1.  With the victory, the Lady Knights improve to 4-4-1 on the season. 

The Lady Knights got on the board quickly as freshman forward Carla Porras (Narragansett) took a pass from sophomore Paige Oram (Burrillville) in the 13th minute and blasted a shot from about 18 yards out into the top left corner of the Montgomery goal. Just seven minutes later sophomore midfielder Melissa Richards (Coventry) converted on a crossing pass from sophomore Jen Kittila (Warwick), giving CCRI a quick 2-0 lead.

Six minutes later the Lady Knights connected again as freshman forward Selena Canales (Cranston) scored on a pass from Oram for a commanding 3-0 lead. A short time later, Montgomery got on the scoreboard, but the Lady Knights kept rolling as just two minutes later, CCRI was awarded a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. Freshman midfielder Stepheny Perez (Providence) took the free kick and scored a beautiful goal, placing a high and powerful shot into the top right corner of the net, giving the Lady Knights a commanding 4-1 advantage at the half.

As the second half of play began the Lady Knights continued to pressure Montgomery all over the field. Nine minutes into the half Canales scored her second goal of the game off of a feed from freshman defender Estefany Mejia (Cranston) making the score 5-1. With just three minutes remaining in the contest freshman Porras scored her second goal of the game for the final margin. 

“This was a good solid win for our team today,” head coach Dennis Grassini said. “After starting this season untraditionally at 0-4 our team has rebounded with four wins and a tie in our last five games and we are turning the corner now. In addition to our offensive output which has increased, our defense has done a more than adequate job of defending Alex Place, who has been solid as a rock in net this season. Hopefully we can keep this unbeaten streak going.”

Knights run well at

Corsair Invite

The CCRI men’s cross country team traveled to UMass-Dartmouth in North Dartmouth, Mass., to compete at the Corsair Invite. The Knights’ finished in 24th place out of 28 teams in their first 8k event of the season. The Knights had a complete team with five runners crossing the finish line with very good times. 

David Palkovic (Middletown) led the way for the Knights with a personal best time in an 8k cross country race, placing 37th out of 210 runners in 27 minutes, 10 seconds. The next Knight in was Britton Laney (Pascoag), who ran his first ever 8k race and placed 170th with a great time of 31:38. Daniel Duquette (North Attleboro, Mass.), also running his first college 8k, placed 171st in a time of 31:39. Rounding out the Knights’ runners was Isaiah Hector (Warwick) placing 179th in 32:46 and Joseph Gareri (Uxbridge, Mass.) placing 190th in his first 8k college race in a time of 4:30. 

“This was a nice team effort with the guys showing great improvement as this season progresses,” coach Gregg Cornell said.  

The next meet for the Knights will be Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m., when they host the Tri-State Invitational on the CCRI cross country course located on the CCRI Flanagan Campus in Lincoln.