By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET --- For the fourth straight game, St. Raphael Academy saw 80 minutes of well-played soccer against a tough opponent end up in a scoreless tie.
But unlike their last three games, which were the final matches of the regular season, this one was a Division III quarterfinal-round duel and it had to end with a winner and a loser.
Unfortunately for the fourth-seeded Saints, they exited the McKinnon-Alves Complex on Friday afternoon on the losing end of a 1-0 score to fifth-seeded Exeter/West Greenwich High, which captured the match by winning a shootout.
After 80 minutes of regulation and two 15-minute overtime periods couldn’t determine a victor, both teams were called upon to engage in a 5-on-5 shootout.
Both teams made their first two goals with ease, as the Scarlet Knights’ Chris Lopez and Oliver Walsh and the Saints’ Jared Hughes and Redmond LeClaire exchanged scores, but after EWG’s David Welesko found the back of the net, SRA’s Nicholas Microulis tried to pick a low corner on goalkeeper Mike Fortin, but had his shot sail to the left of the net.
Again, both teams traded scores in the fourth round of kicks on goals by EWG’s Stephen McMahon and SRA’s Jonathan Franklin, but William Petit soon clinched the win for the visitors by firing a shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
It was a tough defeat to swallow for the Saints, who produced their finest season in their seven-year existence (1998-2001 and ’07-’09). The Saints seized their first ever Division III-North championship with a 7-4-4 record that saw them go undefeated in their last six regular-season games and finish that string with their three straight 0-0 ties.
The Saints also established themselves as one of the division’s finest defensive squads, allowing just more than a goal in a game on three occasions, and on Friday, they showed their defensive prowess against the Knights.
The Saints were outshot by an 18-10 margin, but SRA goalkeeper Ryan Harrison was up to the task and turned away all 18 shots in a splendid effort, including four of them in the overtime sessions.
The best chance either team had at a goal came late in the second half when Hughes took a direct kick from 25 yards out that soared through traffic and looked like it was going to sneak under the crossbar, but Fortin jumped up and snagged the ball before it could sail into the net.
The Knights, who will head into next week’s semifinals with an 8-5-2 record, came into the game 0-for-3 in the quarterfinals in the last three seasons and hadn’t won a postseason game since 2003.