Athlete of the Week: La Salle's Fortune is A Shutout Machine
Jack Andrade, GoLocalProv Sports Reporter
Athlete of the Week: La Salle's Fortune is A Shutout Machine
When she was younger, the best high school goalkeeper in Rhode Island didn’t like soccer. Amber Fortune liked playing basketball.
Fortune started playing goalie at age 10 and the positional change kept her interested enough in soccer to realize she was pretty darn good at it.
“I didn’t like playing the field,” she says. “I was a basketball player, so I liked using my hands.”
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This season those hands have been busy keeping zeroes on the scoreboard. La Salle went 12-0-2 in Division 1 and didn’t allow a single goal in league play this year. That’s 14 straight shutouts. Fortune’s unfathomable streak isn’t just about playing on the best team and not facing many shots. Her 82 saves ranked 6th in Division1. That said, Fortune is quick to share the credit with her defenders.
“All my defenders have been playing defense for a long time,” she said. “It’s not like we’ve got just anyone back there.”
The Rams as a team didn’t exactly set out to shutout all 14 Division 1 teams at the start of the season. Their only goal was taking home the state championship, especially after a heartbreaking loss in last year’s semifinals to South Kingstown. As the season progressed, however, Fortune and her teammates began to notice they were on the verge of history.
“It definitely didn’t start until like midseason, but once we noticed it we decided we wanted to go for it,” she said. “We didn’t want any teams to be like, ‘We got that only goal on La Salle.’”
Fortune says La Salle’s toughest competition in the regular season came in the season finale against East Greenwich. The Rams won a hard fought 1-0 game, wrapping up the #1 seed in the state tournament and completing their “perfect” season defensively.
In the quarterfinals of the playoffs the Rams enacted their revenge on South Kingstown with a 3-0 victory. Fortune cites that game as even more important than the shutout streak.
“Our biggest thing this year was beating them [SK]. It was our biggest game this year. We owed them one from last year."
Another big development in Fortune’s career this year was her relationship with La Salle Head Coach Lindsay Longval.
“I absolutely love playing for her,” Fortune says. “We’ve gotten a lot closer this year just being my 2nd year as a starter and having a lot of success and respect for her because she knows the game so well and has been so successful.”
Fortune was expected to start for the varsity team as a freshman but was sidelined by a torn PCL in her knee. She earned the starting role last year and then used her junior season this year to announce herself to the state as the standard for goal prevention.
Not surprisingly, Fortune is starting to hear from some local colleges about possibly playing at the next level. She cites architecture and philosophy as a pair of potential majors in college, but also hopes soccer is a part of the experience.
“Soccer in college is something I’ve been hoping and praying for,” she says.
When asked if she wanted to shed light on the schools that are after her, Fortune shows a lighter side, saying “I kind of want to leave it a mystery.”
La Salle is set to face Exeter/West Greenwich Thursday night in a widely anticipated semifinal matchup. La Salle beat EWG 4-0 back in early September at the start of the season, but Fortune and the Rams aren’t looking past the Scarlet Knights.
“They weren’t as ready as they are now, back then,” said Fortune. EWG scored 36 goals on the season in league play (2nd in Division1) so they’re a legitimate threat to find the back of the net against La Salle.
Fortune is our Athlete of the Week as a testament to the fantastic season she and her teammates have had at La Salle, a season that won’t feel complete without a state championship. Even scarier than the shutout streak is the fact that none of the Rams’ starting defenders or Fortune are a senior this year- so all of them should be back again next season to possibly extend the streak. None of that matters to Fortune though.
“I haven’t thought about next year yet at all, to be honest,” she says. “We’re just focused on getting our goal accomplished this year before we worry about any of that.”
It’s eyes on the prize for Fortune, never looking past that next game, that next shot, that next save.
Thursday night she’ll be looking for the next win, the next clean sheet and then, with a win, the next state championship game.
Power Pack: RI High School Girls Soccer: November 6th
Smithfield
Regular Season: 8-5-1, #6 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Defeated #11 seed Mt. Hope 4-1 in Round 1, lost to #3 seed East Greenwich 1-2 in Quarterfinals.
Smithfield had a great season. Their 40 goals scored in 12 league games was best in Division 1, and they came up just short against a very good East Greenwich team in the quarterfinals.
Last Week: #8
Portsmouth
Regular Season: 9-4-1, #5 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Defeated #12 seed Barrington 3-0 in Round 1, lost to #4 seed Exeter/West Greewich 4-5 in Quarterfinals.
The Patriots played all of the top teams tough in Division 1 this year and gave Exeter/West Greewich a great battle in their high-scoring quarterfinal loss.
Last Week: #6
Burillville
Regular Season: 10-3-1, #3 seed in Division 2
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #6 seed Westerly 6-0 in Quarterfinals.
Burrillville is set to take on Pilgrim in the semifinals in Divison 2, and the Broncos' 6-0 drubbing of Westerly was easily the most impressive quarterfinals performance in Division 2. They've made a statement and have a lot of momentum behind them right now.
Last Week: #10
Warwick Vets
Regular Season: 10-4-0, #4 seed in Division 2
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #5 seed Scituate 2-0 in Quarterfinals.
Warick Vets shut out Division 2's most dynamic offense (Scituate scored a league high 52 goals this season) in the quarterfinals and made a statement of their own. Next up is a date with top seed Lincoln on Thursday night.
Last Week: #9
Pilgrim
Regualr Season: 11-2-1, #2 seed in Division 2
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #10 seed Tiverton 3-1 in Quarterfinals.
Pilgrim ended Tiverton's cinderella dreams with a 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals, and now get set to face #3 seed Burrillville on Thursday. The Patriots beat the Broncos 1-0 on October 24th to close out the regular season.
Last Week: #7
Lincoln
Regular Season: 12-0-2, #1 seed in Division 2
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #8 seed Classical 3-1 in Quarterfinals.
Lincoln remains unbeaten in Division 2 but now must take on a dangerous Warwick Veterans squad that the Lions beat 1-0 on October 22nd.
Last Week: #5
Exeter/West Greewich
Regular Season: 9-2-3, #4 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #5 seed Portsmouth 5-4 in Quarterfinals
Exeter/West Greenwich beat Portsmouth in an instant classic and now take their high powered offensive attack to the semifinals to face La Salle.
Last Week: #4
East Greenwich
Regular Season: 9-1-4, #3 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #6 seed Smithfield 2-1 in Quarterfinals
East Greenwich slowed down Smithfield's scoring attack just enough to squeeze by with a hard fought 2-1 win in the quarterfinals. EG takes on #2 seed Bay View on Thursday in the semifinals.
Last Week: #3
St. Mary's Bay View
Regular Season: 10-1-3, #2 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #10 seed Cumberland 4-2 in Quarterfinals.
Cumberland's underdog story was wrapped up by the Bengals in the quarterfinals, and Bay View now prepares for a Thurday night thriller with East Greenwich, who they played to a scoreless draw on October 15th.
Last Week: #2
La Salle
Regular Season: 12-0-2, #1 seed in Division 1
Playoffs: Bye in Round 1, Defeated #8 seed South Kingstown 3-0 in Quarterfinals.
La Salle's shutout streak is alive and so are their state title hopes after their quarterfinal win over South Kingstown. The Rams beat semifinal opponent Exeter/West Greenwich 4-0 on september 19th, but EWG is a much better team now then they were 6 weeks ago.
Last Week: #1
