The University of Rhode Island’s Women’s Club Soccer team hosted a three team round robin event this Saturday. The Bryant University Bulldogs and The Boston College Eagles joined in this event to compete for first place on the day. The games began at 10 a.m. with URI taking on Bryant. That game was followed by Bryant vs Boston College, and the round robin finished with the URI vs BC game.
With the game against Bryant being the first home game of the year for the team, a significant crowd was drawn to Plains Field. The matchup against this in-state rival created an energetic buzz amongst the spectators, seeing as avid fans from both teams were present. “It was really nice to have a bunch of our fans because we haven’t played at home yet, so it was nice to have our families and friends,” said team president Charlotte Miller. The Rams were 2-0 going into this game with wins coming against Stonehill Univeristy and Brown University. Looking to move to 3-0 on a sunny Saturday morning Aleca Fotiou started off the scoring action with a quick goal roughly five minutes into the game. Fotiou’s goal was the only score of the first half leaving the Rams up 1-0 at the break. Going into the second half the Rams looked to continue their lockdown defense on the Bulldogs. The stifling defense turned into a transition offense that resulted in a Aniah Myrie goal to put the Rams up 2-0 in the second half. This goal would be the last of the game for either team ending the game with a final score of 2-0, Rams win.
Charlotte Miller was impressed with how her team played in their first game of the day. “I think Aniah did very well, she’s consistent and always can hit a good cross, I think Maddy always holds our backline really well and then all of our defense has actually always been really good. And Aleca obviously for scoring.”
Freshman Attack Taylor Lily was proud of the team’s performance and how they adjusted to playing their first game on grass this season. This win didn’t come easy for the Rams either as they had to adjust their original game plan during the match. Lily states, “We had to adjust during the match, the middle was getting crowded in the second half and our coach wanted us to play two defensive midfielders and the defense line, but we switched it to two attacking midfielders and one defensive midfielder and we scored.”
In between games, Bryant and Boston College faced off. Top ten team in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association(NIRSA) Region 1, Boston College wins this one 6-0.
After the Eagles made the Bryant shut-out look effortless, Taylor Lily and the Rams knew they had their work cut out for them in their second game of the day. “I think we definitely need to rest up and hydrate because BC is going to be a tough team. I think we just need to be more aggressive but I think our passing and everything else was good. I just think we need to be more aggressive and attack.” said Lilly. The aggression that Taylor wanted from her team was definitely there against BC. The physical and competitive matchup with the Eagles had no shortage of slide tackles. BC got the best of URI in the first half, going into the break leading 2-0. The Rams, with their backs against the walls, were able to muster up a comeback scoring two unanswered goals to tie the game. The goals were scored by Ava Salvador and Aniah Myrie, who got her second goal of the day. BC needed an answer and got it with a goal shortly after URI tied the game. The Eagles tacked on 2 more goals and won the match with a score of 5-2.
BC were the winners of the day going 2-0 while URI went 1-1 and Bryant went 0-2. URI moves to 3-1 on the season and are happy, but not satisfied with their double header performance on Saturday. Mattie Alaimo believes the team still could have been more aggressive moving forward. “I think it will definitely be a momentum change, we knew this was going to be a difficult game coming, so I think we will definitely up our aggression in the next game for sure.” Alaimo also believes the team’s communication will be critical to their success moving forward. “I think our main takeaway is definitely just communication all together and our shape. We did a bunch of different formations today which I think we can figure out what helps and what does not work in the future.”
The Rhody Women’s Club Soccer Team had a chance for a bounce back win against Providence college the very next day. The away game for the Rams ended in a tie with the Friars 1-1 with the lone goal in the game coming off a free kick by Giuliana Discenza.
The Rams finish their season off with a home game against Boston University on the 12th and an away game against Northeastern on the 13th. Rhody, Rhody, Rhody Go Rams!
By John Almy
Class of 2026
Journalism Major