Mariners Muzzle Chargers Girls’ Lacrosse With Defense

The Narragansett High School girls’ lacrosse team never trailed, and used a strong defensive effort to keep Chariho at bay, winning 12-8 against the Chargers on Tuesday afternoon.

Senior Kiani Carroll again paced the Mariners (6-3, 6-3 Division II-South) with eight goals, and also chipped in an assist late on a goal by junior Samantha Sabetti.

Sabetti finished with three goals and an assist, and senior Tess McNamara also had a goal and an assist. Eliza DeCubellis had two assists, and Kara Heatherton had an assist as well.

However, Narragansett coach Ken Andronowitz said it was the defense that keyed his team’s performance. Following , the Mariners went to the other extreme against the Chargers (1-5, 1-5 Division II-South), holding them scoreless for two different stretches of 15 and 10 minutes.

He singled out the improving play of senior Rachel Gouveia on defense, noting that because she’s on defense, she isn’t a name that normally appears in the box score.

“Rachel was in every play on defense, and she was making some great plays,” he said. “She stood out to me defensively.”

Andronowitz said that because the defense didn’t allow any sustained scoring chances by the Chargers, it was easy for Narragansett to maintain its intensity.

“They [runs] basically beat you down morale-wise,” he said. “This was a good game because they didn’t allow those runs to happen.”

The Mariners never trailed against the Chargers, jumping out to leads of 2-0 and 4-1 thanks to goals from Carroll, Sabetti and McNamara. However, thanks to an aggressive, crowding defense from Chariho, and the unlucky break of a ball hitting the top of the goal, Carroll was limited to three first half goals.

Carroll said that in the second half, she switched from playing a balanced, ambidextrous game to using her right-handed shot more. A naturally righty, she said she switched to get some more power on her shots. Doing her best impression of Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, Chariho keeper Kaitlin Doloff had 15 saves, with almost every Narragansett shot a quality shot.

While Andronowitz said that Carroll was an incredibly skilled player, the Mariners were working on balancing the scoring load out, with an eye on future seasons.

“We’re working on distributing the ball more,” he said. “She’s just an exceptional player. She’s a complete player … This is her senior year, but we have to work on developing the program.”

Carroll said she does sometimes press a bit on offense.

“I feel like I do have to score a lot,” she said, adding that the offense – Sabetti, DeCubellis, McNamara and sophomore Chandler Lemay – is developing quickly. “Everyone is just getting a lot of shots now.”

She continues to be among the state leaders in goals scored. According to statistics kept by The Providence Journal, Carroll has 52 goals, good for second place behind 75 by Jill DeSimeone of Lincoln. Sabetti is 15^th with 27 goals, and goalkeeper Caitlin Skenyon’s 113 saves is good for third in the state.

Carroll added that this season is unquestionably better than the 2010 season already, when the Mariners went winless in division play.

“This year is so much better,” she said. “Last year we were still having fun, but this year we’re having fun winning.”

She and Adronowitz both mentioned that the goal is qualifying for the playoffs, and then hopefully winning a few games once they were there. However, Andronowitz noted that they won’t sneak up on anyone, not after playing some of the East Bay teams tough.

“Every team is going to challenge us, so we can’t relax,” he said.

In other action from last week, the Mariners easily beat Pilgrim (0-8, 0-8 Division II-South) at home on Friday, 16-6. They are scheduled to play 5 p.m. today at Warwick Vets (4-4, 4-4 Division II-South), and host Tiverton (6-0, 6-0 Division II-South) at 5:30 p.m. Monday before getting a week off.

Want to be notified when there is more lacrosse coverage? Click the follow-up link below!