Lady Titans earn sweep in semis

Matt Metcalf
Posted 3/10/15

The girls’ hockey playoffs got underway this past weekend, with Warwick Co-op, the top seed for the DeCosta Division playoffs, taking on Smithfield/North Smithfield/Coventry Co-op.

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Lady Titans earn sweep in semis

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The girls’ hockey playoffs got underway this past weekend, with Warwick Co-op, the top seed for the DeCosta Division playoffs, taking on Smithfield/North Smithfield/Coventry Co-op.

In convincing fashion, the Lady Titans rolled to a title berth with a sweep of Smithfield, winning game one, 5-1, before closing the series with a 5-2 victory at Smithfield on Saturday night.

Warwick came in as the favorite, previously defeating Smithfield a pair of times during the regular season. Warwick concluded its regular season slate with a record of 9-7, while Smithfield finished in eighth out of nine teams with a record of 2-13-0-1.

In game one, Madison Balutowski paced Warwick’s offensive attack, compiling two goals and two assists. Her four-point night allowed the Lady Titans to roll to an easy game-one win.

On Saturday night, Warwick was able to pull away for a 5-2 win, but it was a much closer game than a night prior.

Junior defenseman, Alyssa Mathews, opened the scoring at 13:41 of the first period, scoring on the power play to give the Lady Titans a 1-0 lead.

But Smithfield, who was determined to keep its season going, answered at 6:57 of the second period.

After two minor penalties were assessed to the Lady Titans, the Sentinels converted on their 5-on-3 advantage to tie the game, 1-1.

Balutowski would answer less than two minutes later to make it 2-1, but Smithfield would tie the game once again near the end of the second period, evening the game at 2-2 heading into the intermission.

However, Warwick would go on to score three unanswered goals in the third to put the game out of reach for Smithfield.

Balutowski scored her second goal of the night early in the third to give the Lady Titans a 3-2 advantage.

Shortly after Balutowski’s goal, Warwick came through with a critical penalty kill and, just minutes later, Savannah Hersey found the back of the net to increase the Lady Titans’ lead to 4-2.

Kelsey Holmes added an insurance goal on the power play at 12:29 of the third for Warwick, making it a 5-2 final.

The Lady Titans will now face Mount St. Charles in a best-of-three series starting on Friday at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium for the DeCosta Division title.

The Mounties, who came in to the playoffs as the third seed, knocked off second-seeded Lincoln/Cumberland Co-op with a pair of overtime victories.

On Friday night, Melanie Foster scored in the second overtime to lift Mount to a 2-1 win. It wasn’t much different on Saturday night, but this time, it only took one overtime, as Bri Luciani scored on the power play just over a minute into overtime to lift Mount to another 2-1 win.

Mount has picked up its play as of late, but Warwick won both meetings against the Mounties during the regular season, notching 5-1 and 6-2 victories.

But, as we know, that all goes away when playoff time rolls around.

Game one between the Lady Titans and Mounties will be on Friday at 6 p.m. at Brown. The puck will drop for game two on Saturday at 6 p.m., as well. If a game three is needed, it will take place on Monday at 6 p.m.

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