Eighteen Townies’ athletes signed to colleges and universities this spring, said East Providence Athletic Director Alex Butler during their annual signing day at the high school on June 11. 

“It’s the largest class since I began doing the signing days,” he said. “We had 90 rostered seniors and for 18 to be moving on to play at the NCAA level is great. That’s 20%, which is above the 7% average for all high school athletes.”

The class included four volleyball players, three football and baseball players, two lacrosse players and athletes that play softball, tennis, track and fencing.

Volleyball players headed to Holy Cross, Holyoke and RIC

Heralded volleyball star, Keira Mullen, is headed to play at Holy Cross to study biology. The Townies’ outside hitter and setter was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for her junior season, in which she compiled impressive stats— 241 assists, 203 kills, 182 digs, 61 aces and 41 blocks—while helping East Providence to a 14-5 record and a D-1 semifinals birth. As a senior Mullen helped the Townies to the championship match, where they fell to North Kingstown 3-1.

Three of Mullen’s teammates also signed to colleges. Ellie Vest, a tall outside hitter, will play at Holyoke, where she’ll study biology. Aliyah Evora will play at Rhode Island College, and Trinity Provencher is going to play softball at Wilmington University.

“Ellie started playing sophomore year,” Mullen said of her teammate. “She immediately made an impact and was one of the key components to our success. She was another consistent player that was able to score for us.”

Vest began playing at age seven. Her parents met through volleyball, she said. She went to a camp at RIC and began playing competitively in middle school at Moses Brown.

“I really took an interest to it and wanted to keep playing,” said Vest, who grew up in New York and went to school at Moses Brown, before coming to East Providence High School her sophomore year.

Softball player attending Wilmington

Provencher, a great overall athlete, played multiple sports for the town and high school, but she never thought that she’d play softball.

“I played so many sports,” she said. “Basketball, baseball, golf, gymnastics, cross-country, track. I played everything. But I never started playing softball until my freshman year of high school.”

Provencher, who hit .358 with eight doubles and a pair of home runs, while playing errorless defense in center field this season, will play at Wilmington next fall, where she’ll study elementary education. She played Little League baseball with the boys, not softball, during her youth.

“I played AAU baseball freshman year as well, But I realized that if I wanted to play in college and receive a scholarship, I would have to switch to softball,” she said.

She tipped her cap to her fellow baseball players that helped make her the player she is today. A player that can dominate at the collegiate level.

“They made me tougher and stronger as a player,” she said. “I still stay in touch with all of my guyfriends from baseball. We're still really close. They're like a family to me.”

Provencher helped the Townies to a 12-9 record in Division 1. They fell to Prout 6-4 in the playoffs.

“It was my favorite team,” she said. “We were all so close. Honestly, I thought we could have went all the way. We had sleepovers and hangouts. It was a very fun season.”

Girls' lacrosse player catches on at Suffolk

Aubrey Facteau followed her soccer friends to lacrosse freshman year.

“I had never played lacrosse before, so I didn’t really know anything about the sport,” she said.

Facteau did know about playing defense. Then coach Haley McCusker O'Keefe put her on the backline and she had been a stalwart there ever since.
“Coach Haley was great,” she said. “She had a lot of faith in me. We did really well that year.”

The Townies fell to St. Mary’s Bay View Academy in the finals that year and made the playoffs all four years that she was on the backline. The Townies went undefeated and won the D-3 state championship her junior year, under head coach Nick Boyce.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “The team was awesome.”

She never thought that she’d play in college, but she had heard that Suffolk University, where she’ll study graphic design, had a girls lacrosse team. So she reached out to the coach.

“She showed interest in me, came down to see my play and offered me a spot on the team,” Facteau said. “So yeah, I’ll be playing for them and hopefully playing defense. But honestly, I’ll play wherever she wants me. I’m a flexible player.”

Lineman to play at UMASS Dartmouth

Joel Rivera played offensive guard for the Townies and is going to play on the O-line at UMASS Dartmouth, where he will study business management.
“I can play all five offensive line positions if they need me to,” he said.

He began playing Pop Warner football at eight years old. He made a travel team where he started as a linebacker.

“I was kind of small for that team. Everyone was bigger and faster than me. It hit me real fast. So when I came to play football at high school, I was ready for that.”

He played all four years, though he was injured much of his senior season with a foot injury. He started on senior day played sparingly in the Townies 21-13 semifinals loss to South Kingstown.

“I came out on senior day and balled-out that game,” he said.

The following 18 Townies athletes signed on to play collegiate sports throughout the country:

Antonio Crank – Football – Dean College
Joel Rivera – Football – UMass Dartmouth
Brady Platt – Football – Vermont State University
Gavin Palombo – Baseball – Nichols College
Kyle Desrosiers – Baseball – Nichols College
Jayden Healey – Baseball – Albertus Magnus College
Trinity Provencher – Softball – Wilmington University
Abigail Ellison – Tennis – Bryant University
Keira Mullen – Volleyball – College of the Holy Cross
Aliyah Evora – Volleyball – Rhode Island College
Eliza Vest – Volleyball – Mount Holyoke College
Ean Williamson – Volleyball – Rhode Island College
Aubrey Facteau – Lacrosse – Suffolk University
Alyssa Karalekas – Lacrosse – Wellesley College
Julian Monteiro – Soccer – University of Rhode Island
Alex Furtado – Soccer – Bridgewater State University
Justin Jardine – Track – Rhode Island College
Aubrey Mitsch – Fencing – Drew University