EAST PROVIDENCE — Over a week's time recently, the East Providence High School boys' soccer club not only snapped a lengthy losing skid, but also qualified for the upcoming Division I state championship playoffs in the process of recording a pair of quality victories.

East Providence actually earned its way into the postseason and halted a four-game run without a win after the visiting Townies defeated Mt. Hope 4-2 in Bristol on Friday night, Oct. 6. Nathan Capelo had a hat-trick (three goals) for the locals while Marcio Cardoso netted his first goal of the season.

EPHS backed up the noteworthy away win over the Huskies with a 2-0 defeat of visiting Portsmouth Wednesday night, Oct. 11, before a healthy crowd at Townie Stadium.

The Townies saw their record improve to 5-4-1 in the league standings with 16 points, three better than the minimum required from their 14 regular season outings. For the visiting Patriots, they slumped to 1-7-2 with just five points on the D-I table after the game.

The locals maintained about a 65-35 possession advantage during the opening 40 minutes, but managed only a pair of quality looks on frame, both of which Patriots' keeper Sean Wilkey (14 saves) was able to get a piece of and deflect away from the net.

Though Portsmouth had the less of the ball, the Pats actually put more shots through towards EPHS goalie James McShane, who eventually finished his busy evening with 11 saves while he and the EPHS backline recorded the cleansheet.

McShane's best sequence of the half came between the 37th minute and the intermission whistle when he controlled a blistering shot by Portsmouth's William Kitzmiller from the left wing just outside the 18. He next needed to make another save off the ensuing Patriots' corner kick on a shot from the Pats' Owen Gervelis, then one more on a low hard shot by Portsmouth's Sean Collins aimed for the post to the EP keeper's right.

Things broke for the better for the Townies in the final 40 minutes, when the hosts ended the tie and tacked on an insurance tally, both goals scored by a Sam Jackson.

The eventual game-winner, the first for the junior forward, who was kept quiet in the first half mustering just one shot off target from distance, came at the end of a quality feed from left back Kendrick Costa in the 51st minute. Costa delivered a near-perfect pass from about 20 yards away, hitting Jackson in stride. He then pooched it over the oncoming  Wilkey for the tally.

His second, to just about seal the victory in the 74th minute, followed an ideal free kick delivery from the Townies' fine attacking midfielder Nathan Capelo over the top of the Portsmouth defense. Jackson rose up above the Portsmouth defense to head a shot past Wilkey.

In addition to McShane, first-year EPHS head coach Tim Calouro made note of the performances of his back three: Costa, Dorian Dasilva and Brian Rutkowski.

Of his team's overall play to date, Calouro said, "We have some injuries and hoping to get players back to 100 percent. We kept possession for most of the game against Portsmouth. We need to be better in the final third against the better teams and press together."

East Providence was scheduled to host South Kingstown Saturday morning, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m. in its next outing. The Townies play twice over the next seven days, in Pawtucket against Tolman October 17 at 7 p.m. and in Warwick Saturday, Oct. 21, against Bishop Hendricken at 10:45 a.m. EP's last regular season game is set for Wednesday, Oct. 25, at Townie Stadium against neighboring Barrington at 6:30 p.m.

SK sits directly ahead of the Townies with a 6-2-1 record and 19 points on the D-I ladder while Hendricken had 22 points (7-1-1) at the close of the week. Tolman, as well, is a playoff team, having won five times and collected 15 points as of late in the week.

With their postseason ticket in tow, Calouro said the aim for East Providence the rest of the way is for the team be more consistent and potentially solidify its position in the top half of the league table.

"Hopefully we can put it all together and finish the season strong," Calouro added. "The is to finish in the top six. We're close, but need to win two out of the four games."

Another note of importance, although the Townies have qualified for the D-I playoffs in the standings, there's still a chance they may not actually gain entry into the postseason field. East Providence has been issued 11 yellow cards for infractions of some sort, physical and/or verbal. Teams are allowed to get 16 total. If they go over that total, they are disqualified from the playoffs. So the Townies need to be on their best behavior in their final few games to avoid the unfortunate circumstance.

It wouldn't be unprecedented for a team, either in city or around the state, to have their postseason berth rescinded due to the yellow card rule. An EPHS side in the late 2000s actually accumulated the maximum number by the end of the season, which included a fight between EP and Mt. Hope, leading the Rhode Island Interscholastic League to put the programs on probation the following fall. That year's East Providence team also reached an even more stringent limit (10 yellows) imposed by the RIIL, making them ineligible for the playoffs.