EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School girls’ lacrosse team dispatched Johnston with ease Saturday afternoon, May 28, in the Division III quarterfinal round playoff outing between the sides, shutting out the visiting Panthers by a resounding 17-0 count at Townies Stadium.

Isabel Tavares and Riley Grant each scored four goals for the second-seeded locals, who improved to 12-1 overall in league games with the victory. Olivia Williams netted a hat-trick, including the first goal of the day and what proved the game-winner, as did Kenna Wigginton. Emma Nordquist, Tessa Laroche and Emmalie LeDuc had one each.

“It was awesome. A shutout is always good,” Olivia Williams said of the day’s result.

E.P. keeper Ava Williams needed to make four saves to earn the shutout in the Townies’ net. Though hardly tested, the EPHS back four of Sarah D'Agostino, Kaylee Vieira, Makayla Rebelo and Katherine Almeida as well as Haley Massa in the midfield were stout on defense.

With the win East Providence advances to the D-III semifinals and a date against third-seeded Cranston East in city on Wednesday afternoon, June 1. The Thunderbolts edged Providence Country Day 8-7 in their quarter  played Wednesday, May 25.

Though the game wasn’t officially over when Williams’ shot as she turned from behind to the front of the goal deflected past Johnston keeper Riley Guenette for the first tally of the afternoon just 58 seconds into the contest, in actuality it was.

It was almost complete domination by the Townies from the outset. It took about five more minutes for the locals figure out the Bolts' zone defense and to score their second goal, another by Williams after being fouled, then the spigot opened.

Grant, who was second in the team during the regular season with 46 goals, scored her first less than a minute later off a rebound. Nordquist made it 4-0, finishing a feed from Tavares. About 30 seconds later Grant and Tavares worked a nifty give-and-go off the ensuing face-off, the former netting her second of the day to make 5-0 Townies.

Tavares, E.P.’s freshman sensation who led the locals with 49 regular season goals, next potted a pair after being fouled. Wigginton, likewise, scored two in a row to make it 9-0. Williams made it 10-0 after being fouled then assisted on the third of the game by Tavares just before intermission to made it 11-0 East Providence at the break.

Johnston, literally, made just two forays into the Townies’ end during the opening 25 minutes and maybe a handful more in the second half. All the while, Guenette was under siege all afternoon. Believe it or not, the score could have been even more lopsided if not for a handful of Guenette saves, some inaccurate E.P. shots and the frame blocked a few other potential Townie tallies.

“It was great. We played well, but you could see we struggle with a zone and Cranston East is also a zone team. So looking forward, that’s something we have to work on and continued to grow and understand the concepts,” EPHS head coach Haley McCusker.

Tavares scored her fourth a couple of minutes into the final 25 to make the score 12-0. Grant then Wigginton then Grant again made it 15-0. Laroche got in on the action with just over three minutes left in the game. And with most of the starters on the sideline, substitute Leduc scored the final goal of the day with 2:02 to go.

“It was definitely a great team effort. We weren’t doing great at the beginning, but we fixed what we had to put 17 goals in the back of the net,” said Laroche. “We played (against) a zone defense, which isn’t what we’re used to. We’re used to a man-to-man. So we had to adjust to that. But as soon as we did, we were on fire.”

For Johnston, which upset seventh-seeded Classical 9-5 in a preliminary round game earlier in the week, its season came to a close with a 5-9 overall record in league games. EPHS also beat the 10th-seeded Panthers rather easily, 15-2, during the teams’ regular season contest in late April.