PAWTUCKET – The St. Raphael girls soccer team got the win it needed heading into the Division II playoffs.
And by doing, it may have given Scituate the motivation it needed as the postseason draws near.
There won’t be a tougher title to win this fall than D-II girls soccer and Wednesday was just another shining example. St. Raphael, the darlings of D-III the last two seasons, showed up for Senior Night and put on a show. Gaby Cuellar and Kamarie Cosme got the Saints off to the start they needed and they withstood a second-half comeback attempt by the previously unbeaten Spartans to pull out the 3-2 win.
“We came out here hard and ready to play,” Cosme said. “We knew they were going to come out fast and we had to come with the same energy.”
“We knew going into this it would be a really hard game,” Cuellar said. “… Obviously we gave it our all because they’re undefeated and there’s that feat in the back of your head, but we knew we had the potential to win and we did.”
“We didn’t come in strong,” Scituate’s Maelie Bowden said. “We came in thinking this was an easy win in the bag and St. Ray’s proved us wrong.”
What has 2026 looked like so far?
St. Raphael is no slouch, with an undefeated Division III title in 2024 and then going 14-2 while winning another championship. Realignment pushed the Saints to Division II this fall and it didn’t take long for them to discover the difference in competition.
Monday, St. Raphael fell to North Smithfield, 2-1, dropping it to seventh in the Division II RPI standings. Wednesday wasn’t a must-win, but it would be a good barometer for the Saints’ championship hopes.
Scituate came into the year unsure of what to expect from the season. With a roster filled with underclassmen, the Spartans – who went 5-7-5 last fall – wasted little time in finding themselves. They rolled into the McKinnon-Alves complex unbeaten and locked into the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.
St. Raphael sent them away with a stark reminder of how close in talent the teams in Division II actually are.
The key to St. Raphael's win
Playing with the wind in their face, the Saints dominated the ball for the majority of the first half. They played smart, tactical soccer, going foot-to-foot with passes and taking opportunities as they arrived instead of forcing them.
The looks were there, but the finishes weren’t until late in the half when Cuellar got loose. Her first shot was off the cross bar and came right back to her. Her second shot was saved and when that bounced back, Cuellar made sure the third one found its home.
“I’m grateful I got the first goal,” Cuellar said. “It changed the whole game.”
Cuellar wasn’t wrong. The goal gave an already confidence St. Raphael team more. The midfield and defense prevented much in terms of looks for Scituate for the remainder of the first half, but the Saints continued to attack. Cosme added another before the half and the 2-0 lead had St. Raphael buzzing.
“We were a little bit intimidated, but we still said we were going to show up and play our game,” Cosme said. “We’re not too scared, not too nervous, we’re just ready.”
What St. Raphael did to save the game
Scituate hasn’t been down much this season, never mind being down two goals. This was gut-check time for the Spartans and they responded well, getting a goal from Lexi Butera early in the second half to cut the deficit in half.
But the score didn’t shake St. Raphael’s already sky-high confidence. They continued to apply pressure to the Spartans and with Cuellar’s stellar skills and Cosme’s explosive speed, opportunities continued to occur. Cosme’s late goal made it 3-1, a score that proved to be the game-winner after Scituate’s Katelyn Chatelle added one in her team’s final push.
“This season it hasn’t come out how we had hoped, but we’re coming out strong every game,” Cosme said. “Through wins and losses, we come out as a team every time.”
Why losing wasn't bad for Scituate
Scituate’s loss was superficial, putting a mark on its record but not in the RPI standings. The Spartans will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament and will host a quarterfinal game next week against either No. 8 Coventry or No. 9 Westerly, two teams its beaten by a combined 5-1 score.
But after losing Wednesday, Scituate knows it won’t be able to take those opponents lightly. The Spartans are loaded with talent – Chatelle and Butera have been dynamic offensive stars this spring – and young players ready to experience their first postseason. This team has what it takes to win a title and if they end up winning a title, you can point to Wednesday, Oct. 21, as a big reason why it happened.
“We feel the loss. It hurts a lot and it means a lot to us,” Bowden said. “Now that we know what the experience of losing is and fighting our way back up, we’re going to come back stronger next time in the quarterfinals on our home field and we’ll be ready.”
Where does St. Raphael stand in D-II?
Any chance St. Raphael had of sneaking up on teams in the D-II playoffs are long gone after Wednesday. The Saints do have championship experience, something no other team in the division can claim. Cuellar is one of the best players in the state and with a veteran roster that understands how to win big games, St. Raphael suddenly looks like a bona fide contender.
Of course, you can say that about just about every team that’s in the Division II playoffs.
Scituate is the No. 1 seed and has earned its flowers. No. 2 Ponaganset has one of the division’s most elite offensive threats in Marron Nerney and a defense that has played well all season. No. 3 North Smithfield has D-II’s best athlete in Eva Corriveau and one of its best finishers in Brynn Santos.
No. 5 Toll Gate showed its grit in a 1-0 win over No. 4 Pilgrim Wednesday night. The Patriots are undefeated against D-II teams not from Warwick (they lost to the Titans twice this season) so there isn’t a team that’s going to want to go up against that.
Burrillville is seventh, but the team is loaded with offensive talent that’s won more than a few big games the last two seasons in Division III. The Broncos might get overlooked, but teams that do that will pay the price.
And then there’s St. Raphael.
The win moved the Saints to sixth in the D-II RPI standings with the season finale against Tiverton Friday at the McKinnon-Alves Soccer Complex. A win might be enough to jump St. Raphael into the No. 4 or 5 slot, which would set up a potential semifinal rematch with Scituate.
But the Saints won’t be thinking about that. They’ll just be focusing on what’s next.
“We don’t focus on past games. We just focus on the future,” Cuellar said. “It definitely gives us inner confidence, but we try not to think about it.”
“We’re going to come to the playoffs just as hungry as we were [Wednesday], if not more,” Cosme said. “We’re ready for whatever comes at us.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Will St. Raphael's statement win be the spark Scituate needed?