The leading scorer in Division I girls soccer last year, Scituate’s Katie Birrell, continues to find the back of the net this season. Heading into last night’s Division I-crossover game against North Kingstown, the Spartans’ senior co-captain had already scored a league-high 12 goals and recorded a league-high 7 assists, playing a role in all but two of Scituate’s tallies.

Spartans coach Bubba Parmenter attributes Birrell’s success to “great speed and a strong desire to win, which is a great match with her athleticism.

“She is still getting doubled-teamed a lot and usually draws the opponent’s best defender, but her skill with the ball and determination to score makes her tough to stop,” he said. “She may be slowed down for a while, but she is a tremendous athlete and can usually figure a way to beat the defense.”

South Kingstown’s Amanda Graham isn’t far behind Birrell. The Rebels’ junior is the top point-getter in I-South with 12 goals and 4 assists. South Kingstown, which entered last night’s game against defending state champion Mt. Hope tied for first with East Greenwich, also boasts the second- and third-leading goal-scorers in I-South in senior Katie Dufficy and sophomore Chelsea Gates, who have each netted seven goals.

Colucci hasn’t missed a beat

Switching to field hockey, it goes without saying that Cate Colucci has made an easy transition from Division II to Division I. In Bay View’s first season playing in the higher division, the senior midfielder has scored 11 of the Bengals’ league-leading 34 goals, while assisting on a dozen others.

“Great vision and anticipation” are the keys to Colucci’s success, says Bay View coach Ken Dias.

“As the play around her gets better and stronger, she is able to elevate her game and take it to the next level,” he said of his talented co-captain. As her high number of assists demonstrates, “she is unselfish and continues to work hard to improve every day.”

In Division II, Liza Green has positioned herself at the top of the scoring chart. The Moses Brown sophomore has racked up 20 goals and 8 assists for the undefeated II-North leading Quakers.

“Liza is certainly doing well for herself, coming off a great freshman year [during which she was named] MVP of the state championship game,” said Moses Brown coach Leslie Caito-Jones. “She has great speed, more so in one-on-one situations [where she is] explosive and dynamic with the ball. She has a beautiful touch in the circle. Even if she’s not the goal-scorer, she’s setting up the play.”

Kayleigh Raposa Run

The second annual Kayleigh Raposa 5 “Kay” Run & 1-Mile Walk will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Colt State Park in Bristol. Proceeds will again go to the Kayleigh Raposa Memorial Fund, established in memory of the 16-year-old Mt. Hope athlete who died in a car crash in February 2007.

Entry fee is $20, with race applications available at http://www.geocities.com/oplusfinish.

For more information, call Brian Beausoleil at (401) 245-8428 or e-mail Andy Sabourin at coachsabourin@yahoo.com

Columbus Day Invitational

More than six decades later, it’s still going strong. The 65th running of the Providence Parks and Recreation Columbus Day Cross Country Invitational will be held Monday at Roger Williams Park’s Temple To Music.

The event, which started out as a schoolboy road race through the streets of Providence and then evolved into the present-day invitational at the park, isn’t “a high profile meet,” says longtime Hope track coach Thom Spann, who has lent his support to the race series for the last 15 years. And that’s the beauty of it.

The morning of racing will begin at 9 o’clock with a Special Olympics event. That will be followed by the freshman/novice, jayvee John O’Shea boys varsity and Alice Sullivan girls varsity races.

Captured on film

The several thousand middle school and high school runners who competed at last month’s New Balance Ocean State Cross Country Invitational encountered some rather challenging conditions, courtesy of Mother Nature. Local George Ross caught it all on film.

“You will rarely get to see photos like these,” he said. “During the freshman boys race, the skies opened and it simply could not have rained harder. Kneeling in six inches of muddy water, unable to see because of the driving rain and humidity on my glasses, I shot the kids running through muddy soup. This is the type of cross country that I ran in Scotland, but the only difference was that the rain was cold!”

For a link to Ross’ images, go to the HSGameTime Staff Blog at:

http://hsgameblog.beloblog.com/rhodeisland

cthorn@projo.com