CRANSTON — The Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division I Girls Soccer Championship is going to have a familiar feel this year.

Powered by sophomore McKenzie Meehan’s hat trick, the La Salle girls soccer team earned its ninth consecutive trip to the state finals with a 5-0 victory over East Greenwich in the first Division I semifinal contest of the 29th MetLife Soccer Classic Wednesday night at Cranston Stadium.

Meanwhile, South Kingstown, which finished second to the Rams in last year’s title game, earned another shot at the defending state champs by posting a 3-0 decision over Portsmouth in the other semifinal matchup.

La Salle and South Kingstown will play for the Division I Championship Sunday at noon at Rhode Island College.

Much like La Salle dominated its competition en route to its fifth-straight I-North title, the Rams took command relatively early in their meeting with East Greenwich, which finished as co-champion with South Kingstown in I-South at 14-2.

With a little less than two minutes remaining in the first half, Meehan, the leading scorer in Division I during the regular season with 42 goals and 13 assists, broke a scoreless tie with the first of her three goals.

But that was just the beginning.

La Salle — which has won six of the last eight Division I crowns, including last year’s with a 2-1 decision over the Rebels — wasted no time cushioning that lead, scoring three more goals within the first 16 minutes of the second half.

Recording her first goal of the season, senior defender Patricia Guay notched the first one for the Rams about eight minutes into the period, booting a shot from the 40-yard line that proved too high for Avengers keeper Alexandra Place to handle.

About 5 1/2 minutes later, Elizabeth Laprade took a feed from Allison Kelley, who crossed it to Meehan in front of the net, where the sophomore quickly knocked it in.

Then it was Kelley’s turn, as the senor converted a pass from Daria Capaldi to make it 4-0.

Meehan tallied her final goal with about 14 1/2 minutes remaining.

“The second half we settled down a little bit,” Avila said. “You notice we were moving the ball. We were trying to find the players. . . . Give and go, one two, and the ball’s in the back of the net. That’s basically our style of play, trying to find the forwards early, trying to find the center midfielders. Brittney (Blanchette) had a couple great chances, as well. We just couldn’t find that range (early on), and once we did and we got the confidence, that was it.”

“You’ve got to give (La Salle) credit,” said East Greenwich coach David Petrucci. “It’s nothing we didn’t do. It’s what they did. They played really good, and we got caught up in the moment. They buried a couple of balls, and after that it was tough to get back into the game.”

Similarly, South Kingstown –– which had beaten Portsmouth, 5-1, in the regular-season Division I crossover between the teams –– took the wind out of the Patriots’ sails early in the second game.

The top scorer in I-South this fall, Amanda Graham sent a nice cross from about 10 yards out into the righthand corner of the net in the ninth minute to give the Rebels a lead they would not relinquish.

Junior Chelsea Gates contributed two goals, one in each half, to help seal the win.

LA SALLE (4): McKenzie Meehan 3, Patricia Guay, Allison Kelley; assist – Kelley 2, Daria Capaldi. EAST GREENWICH (0).

Halftime – LS, 1-0. Saves – Caroline McCabe, LS, 5; Alexandra Place, EG, 4.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN (3): Amanda Graham, Chelsea Gates 2. PORTSMOUTH (0):

Halftime – SK, 2-0. Saves – Nikki Gorman, SK, 2; Alison French, P, 5.

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