Knights Battleground Week 3: Volleyball off to dominant start, Women’s Soccer Holds pace in National Poll, and Men’s Soccer Win Hunting in Week 3 Recap

Men’s Soccer: 

The CCRI men's soccer team welcomed Springfield Technical Community College to the Lincoln campus for a 3:30pm kick-off on Wednesday September 25th.  Knights came out trying to get their first win of the season.  The day was going to be a battle for the Knights, as Springfield Tech scored first in the 41st minute before the half.  Miles Kuku shot the ball past the Knights goalkeeper to give them the 1-0 lead going into the half. In the second half the Knights came out being more offensive minded. In the first half they had only 5 shots on net and in the second half they had 15 shots on net.  In less than 10 minutes into the second half Braiden Corbett assisted Sebastian Velez as he put in the rebound to tie up the game at 1-1.  Nichols Pires twenty minutes later passed a great ball into open space for Sebastian Velez, who hit an amazing shot past the Springfield Tech keeper with a defender right on him giving CCRI the lead at 2-1.  Springfield Tech answered right back when Ahmed Dieng scored and tied the score, making it 2-2. With ten minutes left in the game the Knights got a tough call which resulted in a free kick for Springfield. Ahmed Dieng stepped up again and scored on the free kick which resulted in the final score of 3-2.  Coach Toro said after the game, " We are getting chances we did not talk about a few weeks back, so the improvement is there." "We could have won this game; we just were not able to finish some chances to put the game away towards the end." 

The CCRI men's soccer team welcomed Massasoit Community College to the Lincoln campus on Saturday, September 28th, for a 12pm kick-off. The Knights came in ready to play a tough team in Massasoit.  The first half was a battle, as both teams showed an aggressive mentality trying to push into the offensive third.  Coach Toro moved some players around to add to the attack.  Anthony Franco and Antonio Rodriguez got the start for the Knights that day, freeing up Tyler Pendergast to get up the field more on offense.  The first half ended in a tie but about 10 minutes into the second half a call for Massasoit to kick a PK was made by the referee and Thiago Magalhaes was able to put the PK past Elijah Cruz, who jumped into the net for the Knights for the first time this season. 10 minutes later Massasoit struck again as they filtered the ball through the back line of the Knights and Jakub Helinski gave Massasoit the 2-0 lead.  Coach Toro has been working on the team's mental toughness and resiliency when they were down. The Knights showed this quality and stepped up when things got tough. After Massasoit's second goal, at the restart Knights midfielder, Andrew Jackson caught Massasoit’s goalkeeper way off his line and took a touch off the midline before sending a 40 plus yard shot over the top of the goalkeeper. Jackson has amazing accuracy with his shots, and he put this one, right on the money.  Coach Toro said, "This is a very hard goal to score, and few players have the composure to set it up and execute it." Jackson has this quality, and he can be impactful in every game when he applies himself.   

This goal changed the momentum of the game right away and the Knights went on the attack.  Jose Reynoso and Ethan Paiva hustled and pushed up to get offensive in the second half.  Devin Cabral and Alan Grave playing up top had some chances throughout the game. With about 15 minutes left in the game, Grave sprinted onto a long ball and beat a few Massasoit players to the ball, including the goalkeeper who came out to clear the ball out. Grave calmly hit a driven ball along the grass, and it found its way into the back of the net to tie up the game.  It was a good battle and both teams played well. In the end, the final score was a 2-2 tie. Coach Toro and Coach Mike Jerue loved the heart the Knights showed today against a good opponent.  “We need to continue to play as one unit, and if we add in the heart and hustle, we can win a few games going forward.” Said Coach Toro. 

CCRI's only game this week is scheduled for Tuesday, 10/1/24, when they will travel to Holyoke Community College for a 4pm kick-off in Holyoke, Massachusetts.    

Women's Soccer

The CCRI Women’s soccer team opened the week by hosting Springfield Tech on Wednesday, September 25th with hopes to continue their dominant play. CCRI opened the game up on the attack against Springfield, racking up shots on goal and making the Springfield defense be on their toes for the rest of the game. Hailee Manteiga was the first Knight to find the back of the Springfield net with an assist by Meadow Santos in the 30th minute of play. The end of the first half concluded with a 1-0 lead for the Knights. The Knights picked up right where they left off in the second half with Meadow Santos scoring an unassisted goal to make the score 2-0 in the 46th minute. The Knights continued to dominate the offensive control against Springfield, having 20 shots on goal to Springfields 2 shots on goal. Abby Stinnette added another unassisted goal for the Knights in the 80th minute to make the score 3-0 and to put the game away for CCRI.  

The Knights then traveled to play University of Maine Augusta on Saturday, September 28th to pick up where they left off. UMaine Augusta opened the game with a controlling 2-0 lead over the Knights early in the first half. The Knights finally found the back of the net from a huge 45-yard goal from mid field by Ariel O’Brien, her first of the season. She was assisted by Herlinda Guitirez. The Knights went into the half down 2-1. Coming out of the half, The Knights continued to play great defense and steady offense. After the first two goals early in the game, Knights goalkeeper Leah Neves played spectacularly and recorded 10 saves to keep the Knights in the fight. Herlinda Guitirez, assisted by Kylie Brito, scored to tie the game up in the 69th minute of play and make it 2-2. The Knights held onto the tie all the way till the end of time, finishing with a 2-2 tie over UMaine Augusta. Bringing their overall record to 3-1-2.  

This week sees the Knights hosting two games. The first being Wednesday, October 2nd at 4:00pm against Holyoke Community College, and the second being Sunday, October 6th at 1:00pm against Hudson Valley Community College. 

Volleyball:

Women’s Volleyball came into the week 1-1 after their first away matches last week. This week saw the Knights travel to MassBay Community College for an away game Tuesday, September 24th, and then hosted their first tri-match of the year on Saturday, September 28th, welcoming Massasoit Community College and Roxbury Community College to the Flanagan Campus.  

The Knights started the week strong as CCRI beat MassBay Community College last Tuesday 3-0.  CCRI began the match with a solid performance, registering 7 kills but struggling with efficiency, posting a .158 hitting percentage. They still managed to dominate the first set, winning by a score of 25-10. The next set was the tightest of the match, but CCRI prevailed once again winning 25-21. Teagan Abatiello led the way with 6 kills and a solid effort in the front row. Abatiello was crucial in maintaining momentum for CCRI, earning 7 points overall. Brooke Dibenedetto was outstanding; in addition to her 1 kill, she excelled in serves with 22 attempts, significantly impacting CCRI’s performance and earning 8 points. In the third and final set, CCRI found their rhythm, finishing with 9 kills and a hitting percentage of .353. The final set finished 25-14. They won the game and swept the match 3-0.  

Next, CCRI hosted Massasoit in their first home games of the season. Massasoit had just 7 active players, which CCRI was able to exploit. Massasoit held tough, but did not have the resources to keep up. In the first set, CCRI demonstrated their offensive prowess, starting strong with 9 kills, but their hitting percentage was modest at .167 due to some errors. Massasoit struggled significantly, finishing the set with only 4 kills and a troubling hitting percentage of -.571. CCRI won the set 25-11. Teagan Abatiello made significant contributions with 7 kills and 9 points, while Julia Polofsky added 5 kills and contributed defensively with 11 digs, finishing with 7 points. The next set saw the exact same score, 25-11, as CCRI dominated once again. Trinity Burk and Jaylin Pena supported the Knights strong performance with solid contributions on both offense and defense. CCRI was able to close the door on in the third set, but not without fight from Massasoit. Tied 19-19 deep in the set, CCRI ended up pulling away and winning with 6 straight points, propelling them to a 25-19 set win and a 3-0 sweep of the Massasoit Warriors.  

In the last game of the weekend and second game of their own tri-match, CCRI hosted Roxbury Community College at 3 PM on Saturday afternoon. Roxbury had just come off a loss to Massasoit, who CCRI has just beaten, which set the tone for the final match for CCRI. They made very quick work of the Tigers, winning set 1 25-10, set 2 25-13, and set 3 25-9. Sellymar Garcia, who led the team with 5 kills and had a notable 16 points put together an amazing performance with 11 straight points from serving, leading CCRI to victory. CCRI is now 4-1 on the season, after a dominating 3-0 week, and going perfect (9-0) in sets.  

Up next for the Knights this week is a tri-match on Saturday, October 5th at Holyoke Community College, where they will play both Holyoke Community College and Quinsigamond Community College. Scheduled start time is 12 PM.  

Player Spotlight: Sellymar Garcia 

In last weekend’s tri-match against Massasoit and Roxbury Community College Sellymar Garcia was outstanding in both matches, being responsible for 31 total points over the weekend for an average of 15.5. She also had a streak of 11 straight points by serve in the final set to will CCRI to victory over Roxbury. Garcia, an outside hitter, also led the team in kills over the weekend with 15. Garcia had a .357 hitting percentage over the weekend.  

Garcia helped lead the Knights to a 3-0 week and a 4-1 record on the season.