By Nick Friend

Sports Intern

CRANSTON — Just days after the Tiverton High School boys’ soccer team lost its regular season finale, 2-1, on a trip to Cranston East, the same two sides faced off again in the preliminary round of the Division III playoffs Tuesday evening, Nov. 1, at Cranston Stadium.

And unfortunately for the nine-seeded Tigers, the result wound up being no different as a goal by the eighth-seeded Thunderbolts with less than three minutes to play cost the locals the game and ended their season by the identical score of 2-1.

Despite outshooting Cranston East for most of the game, Tiverton found itself down 1-0 in the 76th minute before late-game heroics from Tyler Murray tied the game up at one. But just over a minute later, Tiverton experienced heartbreak as a routine shot slipped in between the post and goalie as the Thunderbolts hung on for the victory.

“If you can’t score goals you can’t beat the good teams,” Tiverton head coach Tom Murray said. “Today I thought our attack was great and we had plenty of chances, but we just couldn't finish.”

As the game began at a brisk Cranston Stadium in front of a sizable crowd, East wasted no time as the hosts maintained the first possession of the game. For the next several minutes however, both teams committed turnovers and passing errors. It wasn’t until the third minute of the game that the Tigers put their first shot on goal as Alec Arruda kicked one just over the crossbar.

After a couple of minutes of offensive possession for the Thunderbolts, they finally earned their first opportunity on a shot that was nicely handled by Tiverton starting goalkeeper Gregory Johanning. Halfway through the first period, the Tigers experienced their first scare as Johanning tried to catch a corner kick in the air, but the ball slipped past his hands. Just seconds later, Zachery Pacheco was there to kick the ball away and save a goal.

A few minutes later, Tiverton would get its best opportunity of the half as back-to-back shots rattled off Cranston East defenders before eventually being kicked out of bounds. As the pace of the game slowed, the Thunderbolts’ offense heated up. Following minutes of offensive zone time for the locals, a header off of a corner kick put Cranston East up 1-0 in the 28th minute as their home fans erupted.

Despite four more corners and a couple shots just missing the goal for the Tigers, Tiverton went into halftime down 1-0.

“We outshot them 18-10 for the game and we should have had four goals at halftime,” Coach Murray said.

In the second half, the scoring chances kept coming for Tiverton as Brennen Tappen missed a wide open net in the 42nd minute. For the next 10 minutes, the Tigers would go on to control play, but struggled to gain quality opportunities as Cranston East packed it in defensively.

In the 50th minute, both teams went back and forth in an exciting stretch of play as both teams raced up and down the field, but failed to get any shots on goal. Then, in the 65th minute, Coach Murray made the decision to pull the starting goalie, Johanning, and place him at his “more skilled position” of forward.

For the next several minutes, the Tigers would try and get Johanning the ball, but the Thunderbolts were well aware of the talented senior.

With tension building and the coaching staff trying to set up last minute chances, Tiverton was granted a corner kick with just over four minutes to play. As the ball sailed through the air, Murray, who had been a force all night long, used his height to head the ball into the net as the Tiverton bench erupted.

But only 70 seconds later, as the excitement from the previous goal seemed to wear off, what looked like a harmless shot on goal would turn into the shot that ended Tiverton’s year. As the ball rolled just inside the post, Cranston East’s bench and fans erupted once more as the clocked neared the full 80 minutes of regulation.

Though Tiverton controlled the play in the few remaining minutes, Cranston East sent in extra defenders making it hard for the Tigers to find space. And only seconds later, the final whistle sounded as Cranston East celebrated on its home turf while Tiverton was sent packing for the last time this season.

“I wish I could have stopped things and put him (Johanning) back in net,” Coach Murray said. “A weak goal at the end, but we should have had more than one goal. To be honest, I thought we outplayed them the whole game, but sometimes that is just how soccer is.”

Tiverton's year concluded with a 5-7-4 overall record in D-III games. Cranston East (6-5-5) advances to the main draw of the tournament to face top-seeded Davies (13-1-1) in the quarterfinals.