Panthers cruise past Cougars, 8-1

Posted

The Johnston Lady Panthers beat the North Providence Cougars, 8-1, on the road on Tuesday afternoon. Sophomore Kaylee Lameiro had four goals and one assist and Gabby DiRaimo, another sophomore, added one goal and two assists.

“Kaylee has the softest hands on the team,” Johnston head coach Jay Areson said. “There are just some times the passes may be a little errant, but she’ll come up with it and I don’t know how she does it. She’s been excellent all season.”

With the victory, Johnston improves to 5-1 on the season while North Providence drops to 1-6.

Senior Jacsmile Cassion was the goalkeeper for the Panthers and she was outstanding in the net all night, finishing with 10 saves while giving up just the one goal.

“She’s one solid goaltender,” Areson said. “She has been at least the top goaltender in our division for the last four years. She’s definitely a leader on the defensive end.”

For North Providence, it was junior Tessa Iannucci in net.

Johnston junior Grace Sarah won the opening draw and charged down the field before running a give-and-go with Gabby Sauro, who tossed it back to Sarah, before her shot was denied by Iannucci.

Moments later, North Providence’s Allison Jasper passed to junior Amara Gibau, who juked one way and went another before having her shot stopped by Cassion with 17:55 to play in the first half.

With 12:50 left, DiRaimo intercepted a pass and knifed her way down the field, but the sophomore was denied by the North Providence goalkeeper. But, with 8:04 remaining, Sauro cut and spun her way through the North Providence defense before dishing in front to DiRaimo for a goal, giving Johnston a 1-0 lead.

With just over six minutes remaining in the half, Gibau had a wraparound shot rejected by Cassion. The senior goalkeeper would make another save on Gibau two minutes later.

With 3:42 to play in the first frame, Johnston freshman Sam Gobeille picked the pocket of North Providence’s Alexa Pattek and passed ahead to Lameiro, who left it for Sarah and the junior found the back of the rack, putting the Panthers up 2-0.

Areson thought his Panthers started the game a little sluggish, but in the second half, Johnston would get hot, especially Lameiro, whose four goals all came in the second frame.

Just 2:23 into the second half, the Panthers got their third goal when Sam Hardman grabbed a defensive board and passed ahead to Sauro, who eluded her defender before burying a shot in the back of the net. Less than 40 seconds later, DiRaimo found Lameiro for a goal, increasing the Johnston lead to 4-0.

Johnston extended its lead to 5-0 with 16:09 left to play, when DiRaimo assisted to Lameiro again.

Three minutes later, Sauro fired on net, but saw her shot stopped by Iannucci. However, Lameiro was there for the putback, scoring her third straight goal while giving the Panthers a 6-0 lead. Sophomore Grace Muller put Johnston up 7-0 when she slashed to the rack and scored with 11:28 left.

North Providence tallied its first goal of the contest when freshman midfielder Raffaella Brunetti won the ensuing draw and took it the length of the field for an unassisted goal, pulling North Providence within 7-1.

Johnston scored the final goal of the game when senior Loriann Samayoa assisted to Lameiro for a goal with 5:29 left.

The Panthers are flying high right now, but their schedule only gets tougher. Johnston plays Westerly, Rogers and Cranston East, who own a combined record of 12-4.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here