Knights Battleground Week 8: Women’s Soccer Advances to National Tournament after Region XXI Championship win over Holyoke; Men’s, Women’s Basketball Season Begins

Women’s Soccer:

            Women’s Soccer hosted the regional semi-finals as the number one seed against Springfield Tech Community College on October 31^st. The Knights had a 2-0 regular season record against STCC, winning the first game 3-0 and the second game 1-0. The Knights started out sluggish and STCC took advantage of the Knights playing style and scored first giving STCC the early 1-0 lead. After that goal the Knights seemed to pick up the pace on the offensive side of the ball, as Kylie Brito set up Herlinda Guitirez to tie the game 1-1 in the 15^th minute. The Knights were able to come up with big defensive plays to stop STCC attacks. In the 29^th minute Kylie Brito found Herlinda Guitirez once again for a Knights goal and to take a 2-1 lead going into the half. In the second half the Knights found their rhythm and dominated the second half by scoring four more goals, two of them being Herlinda Guitirez to complete a four goal outing, and others by Kylie Brito, and Kassidy Sisco. The Knights would win 6-1 against Springfield Tech and move on to the Region XXI title game.

            After the Knights big win in the semi-finals against Springfield Tech, The Knights were looking to take home the Region XXI trophy against Holyoke CC this past Sunday. If you were a fan of offense this game was not for you. As Holyoke’s defense would suffocate any one of the Knight’s attacks and clear it. The Knights would get more shots on goal towards the end of the half but Holyoke goalkeeper, Avery Ellis saved all of the Knights shots on goal. Abby Stinnette had an amazing shot from the left side of the box that hit the top of the post and went over the top of the net. When the first half came to a close both teams were tied 0-0 and frustrated. The second half looked to be the same story as the first, as Holyoke kept suffocating the Knights offense and not letting any danger come to the goal. Then in the 63^rd minute Holyoke attacker, Ariana Soares recorded the only shot on goal for Holyoke and scored to go up 1-0. The Knights looked to respond and kept attacking the Holyoke defense. Then the Knights offense finally broke through in the 74^th minute when Kassidy Sisco scored on a ball that went through the hands of the goalkeeper and tied it up 1-1. The Knights would hold on and bring the game into overtime for golden goal. After many shots and opportunities neither team could score in overtime, leading to PK’s. The Knights would finally pull through and win in PK’s, becoming the Region XXI champions and will be heading to Batavia, New York for Nationals. 

Men’s Soccer

The CCRI men's soccer team traveled to Northern Essex Community College for the Region XXI semi-finals.  To say this season was like a rollercoaster would be an understatement for the Knights. After being 0-6-1 at the end of September, a 2-2 tie with old rivalry Massasoit the Knights stepped out into the lights tonight to play in the Region XXI semi-final after an amazing game earlier this week that resulted in a PK shoot out win in a nailbiter against Bristol Community College. 

Knights came out dealing with a few injuries the last game that went into overtime and PK's.  Knights held their structure well in the first 30 minutes but after a poor pass coming out of the back, the ball went into the path of Jadiel Bomfim as the defense ran out expecting transition and Bomfim was able to walk it in and give N. Essex the 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later on a corner kick Edwin Embaka was able to head one past the Knights giving them the 2-0 lead to end the half. CCRI struggled to get any offense going as Braiden Corbett and Andrew Jackson tried to connect to find Sebastian Velez and Devin Cabral up top.  Sam Naiefeh Jr. and Ethan Paiva put in a good fight trying to tie the back line with the front line, but without good passing consistency the team was unable to get anything going. With the midfield diminished, the defense got even more pressure which resulted in a PK for N. Essex about 12 minutes into the second half.  Elijah Cruz, who was a field player that jumped in goal for CCRI this year, made the save on the shot but on the rebound Sam Lucena was able to finish it giving N. Essex a 3-0 lead.  Two minutes later Braiden Corbett made a run from defense into the N. Essex 18 yard box and was taken down which resulted in a penalty kick for CCRI. Sebastian Velez, stepped up with confidence and was able to give the Knights a goal, making it a 3-1 game.  This would end the scoring for the Knights and within the last 20 minutes of the game N. Essex was able to put two more away, one at the 70th minute by Yassir Hounana and one at the 79th minute by Sam Lucena. In the end the Knights of CCRI would lose the game 5-1 and end the 2024 season.

Volleyball

After finishing the season with a 13-3 record, good for 2^nd in Region XXI play, the Knights earned a spot in the NJCAA Region XXI Semi-Final game on Saturday November 2nd, with a trip to the Finals and a Nationals appearance to Iowa on the line. The Knights faced the #3 Seed Holyoke Cougars, who the Knights had beaten by scores of 3-0 and 3-1 this year so far. This time, the Cougars came out ready. They burst out to a quick 2 set lead over CCRI, as the Knights came out flat and could not finish any attacks, losing the sets 15-25 and then 11-25. However, Rhode Island wasn’t ready to go home just yet, as the Knights rallied to scrape out the next two sets, 29-19 and 25-21, to tie things up at two a piece headed to the fifth and final set. Unfortunately the Knights were unable to break the tie after being wrapped up at 15 a piece, and the Cougars advanced to the Region XXI Finals game against Bunker Hill, 17-15, and a set count of 3-2.

THANK YOU KNIGHTS!

A huge thank you to our two Knights programs who saw their seasons come to a close this past weekend. Thank you for representing CCRI in a positive way and being part of success for years to come.

The Men’s Soccer team started the season 0-6-1, and put in a fight to the end, finishing with a 5-8-2 record, going 4-2-1 in their home stretch. They will graduate six Sophomores, who include Devin Cabral, Elijah Cruz, Andrew Jackson, Ethan Paiva, Sebastian Velez, and Tyler Pendergast. The team earned a playoff bid, and had a Region Playoff win.  

The Volleyball team went 13-4 this season, starting 10-1 and received votes right outside the #15 spot of the NJCAA Division III National Poll. Finishing the season as the 2 seed in the region and only graduating 2 Sophomores, Brooke Dibenedetto and Audrey Isherwood, the Knights look to return many key pieces and make a run for a Nationals appearance in 2025.

Thank you again Knights for a successful 2024 season!

Men’s Basketball:

The Knights began their season last weekend on Saturday, November 2^nd vs Great Bay Community College. The Knights would win the game wire to wire beating the Herons 79-68.  Leading the way for CCRI was Jayden Desimone, who finished the game with 26 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists on 7 of 17 shooting, 6-15 from three. Connor Chambers got the start down low for the Knights and added 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals to the win. Rhode Island also got some significant minutes off the bench from Logan Voelker, who tallied 13 points and 5 assists in 27 minutes, while Justin Hill added 8 points off the bench. 

Next up this week for the Knights is an away game at Holyoke Community College on Thursday, November 7^th at 8 PM.

Women’s Basketball:

Ranked 9^th in the country headed into the season, the Knights first game was against the Division I Monroe Mustangs. This game would prove to create tough skin for the Knights, losing by a final score of 67-38. The Knights succumbed 33 turnovers to Monroe.  Leading the way for Rhode Island was Tatiana Pereira with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

The Knights will travel this weekend to Onondaga Community College for the Onondaga Classic on Saturday and Sunday, November 9^th and 10^th, where they will face Onondaga and Jefferson Community Colleges.