The Johnston boys’ soccer team was aware of how good Cranston East senior star Dennis Vasquez is with the ball at his feet heading into Tuesday’s game with the ’Bolts.
Being aware didn’t seem to make much difference.
Vasquez scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the game, including one just after the opening whistle blew, and he assisted on two more goals to lead East to a 4-0 victory over the Panthers.
Johnston trailed 3-0 at half, and though it generated a few chances in the second half, East – with Vasquez setting the tone – maintained control the whole way through.
“They know about Dennis,” said Johnston head coach Dan Mazzulla. “It’s no secret. They think they can run with him so they try to run the offside trap. We talked about containing, but they try to make the perfect play.”
East’s supporting cast held up its end of the bargain too, as Kevin Donnelly notched a pair of goals to aid Vasquez with the scoring load.
The ’Bolts improved to 4-1-1 with the victory and have now won three in a row since losing to St. Raphael on Sept. 12.
Johnston is 0-4-1, and has lost four in a row since tying Tiverton 0-0 in its season-opener.
“They’re getting a little frustrated,” Mazzulla said. “But they have to look inside themselves.”
Vasquez gave East a lead it would never come close to relinquishing in the second minute, when he received a through ball from Andy Gomez on an attempted offside trap and found himself one-on-one with Johnston keeper Devon Atkinson. He easily slipped the ball into the right side to make it 1-0.
Eleven minutes later, Vasquez was at it again, getting a pass from Kevin Pantoja, sneaking past a few defenders and rocketing a shot high into the net. Just like that, it was 2-0, and Johnston – which has scored three goals all season – was in a tough spot.
“They want to play with him instead of containing him,” Mazzulla said of his team’s approach toward marking Vasquez. “If you play with him, he’s going to beat you and that’s exactly what he did.”
The Panthers rarely threatened the rest of the half, and in the 38th minute, Vasquez caught them again. He ran down a ball bouncing in the middle of Johnston’s box, dribbled it toward the goal line, then whirled and sent a lofted pass to the far post. Donnelly was there waiting, and he headed it into an open net for a 3-0 lead.
“Johnston is really young and inexperienced,” said East head coach Richard Grenier, whose team had beaten Masters 10-3 the day before. “The only thing I feared was a layover from yesterday’s game. The last time we played back-to-back games it wasn’t good for us. But we came at them right away.”
It wasn’t until the 61st minute, midway through the second half, that Johnston had its best opportunity to get on the board. Henry Alvarez, a freshman, pushed the ball onto the East side and ran toward it, getting there as it reached the 18 along with an East defender. Alvarez took a shot, but the defender got his foot on it and sent it out of bounds for a corner kick.
Alvarez has all three goals this season for Johnston.
“Henry Alvarez, a freshman, he’s been good,” Mazzulla said. “He’s had a little early success.”
On the ensuing corner, Johnston’s Brian Campanelli had the ball at the top of the box and spun around to take a shot, but it went straight at East goalkeeper Brandon Franco.
“We were getting tired,” Grenier said.
Four minutes later, Donnelly made it 4-0 for East when he scored from the right post on a groundball cross from Vasquez.
Johnston had a few more opportunities as the game wore one, with Robert Marsella sending a shot wide from just inside the box on the right in the 68th minute, and Campanelli sending a shot from way out toward the goal that Franco punched over the crossbar in the 77th minute.
But that was it for the Panthers.
Mazzulla is planning on shaking up the lineup a little bit to try to change his team’s fortunes. The Panthers have had a chance at a few wins – losing 3-2 to Warwick Vets and 2-0 to Burrillville, plus the scoreless tie with Tiverton – but haven’t been able to get it done.
There will be more chances.
“They have to understand – they can be good,” Mazzulla said.
The next game for Johnston is Friday at Davies at 3:30 p.m. Davies is currently 3-0-1.
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