Late goal lifts Bunker Hill past CCRI in the Knights’ men’s soccer season opener

September 9, 2022

In a rematch of last year’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XXI championship game, the Community College of Rhode Island men’s soccer team came up short in a 2-1 loss Thursday in its season opener against No. 8-ranked Bunker Hill Community College.

Franklin Prudencio snapped a 1-1 tie with the game-winning goal in the 72nd minute as the Bulldogs (1-1) earned their first win of the season and their ninth against CCRI in the last 10 meetings between the two teams dating back to 2012.

Sophomore midfielder Juan Barrios (Pawtucket, RI) scored the Knights’ lone goal at the 37:30 mark of the first half. The Knights return Saturday in search of the first win of the season in a home match at 1 pm against Southern Maine Community College.

“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes that cost us,” said CCRI head coach Gabe Toro. “Hopefully, we become more cohesive and begin to trust one another moving forward.”

The Knights began Thursday’s opener with a solid defensive front looking to get more production from their forwards. This resulted in a handful of opportunities within the game’s first 10 minutes, but CCRI failed to capitalize.

Later in the first half, the Bulldogs earned a free kick courtesy of a foul on CCRI and took advantage when Bunker Hill’s Arther Teixeira cleared the defensive wall and struck the back of the net at the 35-minute mark to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 heading into the half.

After a few halftime adjustments by Toro, the Knights applied more pressure at the beginning of the second half and finally broke through on Barrios’ goal off a rebound in front of the net. Prudencio scored the game-winner for the Bulldogs in the closing minutes amidst a scramble on a corner kick. Freshman goalkeeper Lucas Petrarca (Coventry, RI) started his first game in net for the Knights and stopped six of eight shots.