SEEKONK — On a cold and dark night at Wheeler Farm Tuesday, Nov. 2, the East Providence High School boys’ soccer team saw its season come to a close as the Townies suffered a 1-0 loss to the host Wheeler School in the opening round of the Division I state championship playoffs.

The host and eighth-seeded Warriors, who also beat EPHS at home two weeks ago by a 2-1 score, notched the only goal of the game scored by senior Sekou Kamara midway through the second half.

For East Providence, which was seeded ninth, its 2021 season came to a close with a 5-6-5 overall record in Division I outings.

Wheeler advanced to the quarterfinals opposite top-seeded and undefeated LaSalle.

While the Townies had multiple offensive chances throughout the game, including several in the opening minutes of the contest, none were able to break through and reach the back of the net.

East Providence appeared to have broken the ice late in the first half, but a presumed breakaway goal from junior Maxamus Collins was negated due to offsides on the Townies. The first half ended scoreless. EPHS junior goalkeeper Nicholas Bento recorded five saves in the period.

Ten minutes into the second half, East Providence senior Brett Schwab sent a sharp shot on net, but Wheeler goalkeeper Charlie Caiati made a big save.

Later in the period, Collins took the ball deep into the Warriors’ end twice on the rush, but he was swallowed by Wheeler defenders each time.

EPHS junior Ryan DeCampos came very close to putting one past Caiati minutes later only for the ball to continue veering off to left, missing the net wide.

With under 10 minutes to go, junior Martim Moniz received the ball off a pass and made his way by two defenders before taking a massive leap off of a trip. Moniz laid on the turf for some time before needing help off the field.

A last ditch effort from Collins in waning moments also came up empty, leaving the Townies on the short end of the result.

Boys' soccer seniors

The loss to Wheeler ended up being the last game in a Townie uniform for multiple seniors, including Brett Schwab, Nicholas Morrison, Jason Dosito, Dilson Vieira, Devin Aguiar, Isaac Swanson, Ryan Amoroso, Kyle Dunn, Kael Conaty, Owen Tellier and and Ethan Goncalves.

Final regular season game

The EPHS boys’ soccer team dropped a one-sided result to visiting and undefeated LaSalle to close out the 2021 Division I regular season last week as the rival Rams defeated the Townies, 5-1.

LaSalle started the scoring with a goal 10 minutes into the contest, added another three minutes later and a third in the 18th minute to build a commanding early lead.

The Rams tacked on a fourth tally for good measure before intermission, then went up 5-0 just three minutes into the second half.

R.J. DeCampos scored in the 60th minute to help the Townies avert the shutout.

As mentioned, LaSalle is the No. 1 seed in the state championship tournament. The Rams finished the regular season with a 14-0-1 record and with 43 points.

Parent is an EPHS sophomore who contributes to the athletic department’s Twitter feed, @EPtowniesSports.