The Cranston East boys soccer team is looking to make some noise this season in Division II after an injury-plagued 2021 season in which it grinded its way to the playoffs.

The Bolts saw five starters injured last fall season but were able to make the postseason, much thanks to the stellar play of All-State senior Carlos Andrade, who was one of Rhode Island’s most dangerous scorers.

Now, the team is returning without Andrade, who went on to play for Johnson and Wales, but returns a handful of seniors as well as players that missed time due to injury.

The Bolts named five team captains and coach Richard Grenier is expecting big things from the bunch.

“Nathan Carrillo and Connor McDonough are a good anchor for us, David White is back in net and Nadeem Chaudhry assisted on a number of Carlos’ goals. Those guys and Donovan Rodriguez, he’s a senior that looked good (at the injury fund). Leo Rodriguez was injured last year and is back, he is showing that he will be able to help us,” said Grenier.

The key will be for the Bolts to replace Andrade’s production up front. Although the team does not have a single player to make up for the loss, Grenier likes his speed options as they look to put points on the board.

“You don’t replace a Carlos Andrade, you don’t replace an All-Stater. What we do have this year is that we’re faster up top,” said Grenier. “We have some underclassmen, Curtis Horace, Marvin Lazo, they are very fast and are going to help us. Michael Lopez was in our program last year as well.”

The team is looking to not only win games, but to represent its community well when doing so. Although Grenier and his staff have not put any expectations on the season to this point, one goal that has been established is to make the postseason once again.

“It’s always the same thing. We pride ourselves on sportsmanship. We want to play the game hard but we want to play it the way the Rhode Island Interscholastic League wants us to play - with sportsmanship. We want to play hard, play with sportsmanship, and be a playoff team,” said Grenier. “Our goal is to make the playoffs and see what happens from there. That’s the way that we’re going toward this season. It’s like a family here in the fall.”

The Bolts will kick their season off this Saturday afternoon when they take on West Warwick.