September 4, 2012

Dear Friends & Alums,


WOW! What an exciting night! We had a crowd of over 2500 on hand and they got two exciting games in the 3rd Annual Ocean State Soccer Classic. Thanks to our Rams FC families as well as all our alums, parents and supporters who were in attendance. It was overwhelming...

In the first game of day Brown defeated Providence 1-0 to take home their first OSSC Tournament Championship. Then the fireworks went off in the consolation where we battled with Bryant University to a 4-4 draw. It was a great game for the fans as 8 tallies between the two teams squashes any soccer “newbies” thoughts that there are not a lot of goals scored in our game. It obviously wasn’t something we were necessarily looking for after conceding only 2 goals previously in two 0-1 defeats to open the season but it was exciting none the less.

The game was a seesaw battle with two of our guy’s getting their first career goals in the opening half. First, redshirt sophomore Trevor Moran (Willbraham, MA) banged home a missed clearance that went off the inside of the left post and into the right side netting to tie the game at 1-1. Senior captain Robby Gargaro (Naperville, IL) got his tally 6 minutes later off sophomore midfielder Matt Sykes (Sheffield, England) corner that classmate Mike Casey (Wakefield, RI) knocked down with his head. It put us up 2-1 and seemed like we had the momentum but Bryant equalized just before the half.

In the second half the teams traded penalty shots in less than a 2 minute span as Sykes got his first of two goals on the night. The Bulldogs would pull ahead in the 59th minute but “Syksey” scored on a long shot off a Adam Blanchard (Scarborough, ME) punt to bring it even again. Although we got several chances including a Robby Gargaro header that went off the post, crossbar and GK hands, we also got help of the soccer gods on a Bryant ball that hit the crossbar in overtime - neither team could find the winner.

For their performances on the weekend, Brett Uttley (Jamestown, RI) and Matt Sykes were named to the Ocean State Classic All-Tournament Team.

Classes begin tomorrow and we travel to DeKalb, IL for the weekend to play in the NIU adidas Invitational. We have the host Huskies on Friday at 6:00 pm and Northwestern University Wildcats of the Big Ten on Sunday at Noon (*both times are Eastern). It should be a great weekend of soccer as these two teams both played in the NCAA Division I Tournament last season.

Before I sign off congratulations to David Caetano ‘82 who was recently voted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame. He will be inducted later this fall and now be among several former Rhody players to be bestowed this honor, our most recent being Kevin Murphy ‘80 in 2011.

Take care and GO RHODY!
Coach O’C