EAST GREENWICH — Our Lady of Mercy School’s co-ed soccer team captured the CAL State Championship in a decisive battle with a 1-0 win over St. Pius V, Providence on Friday, June 7 at La Salle Academy.
Both teams entered the matchup with unblemished 8-0 records. OLM advanced to the title game with a 6-1 semifinal win over Mercymount the previous week, while St. Pius had defeated St. Luke’s, 6-2, to earn their championship game bid. In Friday’s game, OLM eighth grader Luca Marenghi (Warwick) scored what ended up being the game-winner in the second half, assisted by classmate Daniella Sisco (Warwick). The win improved OLM’s record to a perfect 9-0 for the season.
The CAL Soccer title is OLM’s second in three years, last capturing the 2022 crown. Impressively, in all seven CAL sports that OLM competes, the Jaguars have captured five state team titles in the 2023-24 academic year: boys cross country, girls cross country, girls’ grammar basketball, boys’ junior basketball and now the soccer championship. Fittingly, Luca Marenghi also captured an individual title of his own, winning the 2023 Boys Cross Country State Championship, adding six championship crowns to the OLM trophy cases this year.
