Above: EG’s #9, Matt McKenzie going for the goal. McKenzie scored 5 for the Avengers.

The Boys Lacrosse team is facing North Kingstown in the state D2 final Saturday after a nail-biting overtime semifinal win against South Kingstown, 8-7. 

Co-captain Matt McKenzie, a senior, topped the stats with 5 goals and 2 assists. 

“Our close defense played spectacular, keeping them contained down low,” said Coach Dennis Votta. He singled out senior co-captain Kevin Cianciolo as well as juniors Jacob Souza and Tim Votta for their great defensive play. 

“Spencer [Halligan] played a very smart game,” Votta said. “They shut him off a lot … but he did a lot of things without the ball to really help the offense flow.”

EG went into the game with a big win against SK just last week, 16-6. But, said Votta, “that wasnt representative of the quality team they are. It’s tough to beat a team twice in a week timeframe.”

Thursday’s win proved far harder but the Avengers will meet the Skippers Saturday in what Votta said should be another close game, despite EG’s 19-9 loss to NK early in the season.  

“I think we’ve developed quite a bit [since then],” he said. “We’re a different team. They’ve obviously gotten better. So we’ll see. I think it’s going to be a similar game to what it was last night – very competitive, very close.

Stats:

South Kingstown

Adam Corpus: 2 goals
Cody Granville: 1 goal
Curtis Granville: 1 goal
Kyle Hadley: 2 assists
Brendan Kroll: 1 goal
Parker McGregor: 1 assist
Colin McNamara: 1 assist
Nate Smith: 2 goals; 1 assist

East Greenwich

Luke Handy: 1 goal
Jack Farrelly: 1 goal
Spencer Hallagan: 1 goal; 1 assist
Matt McKenzie: 5 goals; 2 assists
Colin Walsh: 1 assist

The Boys Lacrosse team meets North Kingstown in the state D2 final at Cumberland at 11 a.m. The Boys Volleyball team plays Classical in the state D2 final at Rhode Island College at 2 p.m. 

Kevin Cianciolo (#24) on defense.

Goalie Diego Gomez going for the save.

Jacob Souza, part of the Avengers’ effective defense Thursday night.

Spencer Hallagan goes for the goal.