Lynch, Page lead undefeated Pats past Titans

Posted 4/21/16

The Pilgrim girls’ lacrosse team improved to 4-0 on its young season with a 13-2 victory over cross-town rival Toll Gate on Monday behind four goals from Molly Lynch and three from Hannah Page. …

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Lynch, Page lead undefeated Pats past Titans

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The Pilgrim girls’ lacrosse team improved to 4-0 on its young season with a 13-2 victory over cross-town rival Toll Gate on Monday behind four goals from Molly Lynch and three from Hannah Page.

The display of offensive depth was certainly encouraging for Pats’ head coach Tom Flanders, as five different players combined for the first five goals, while four players recorded multi-goal games.

In addition to Lynch and Page, Sophia DeLuca and Kendra Tantimonico each scored two goals.

“We’ve been sharing the ball really well,” Flanders said. “That’s something I wanted to work with them on this year, having goals come from different places so we’re that much tougher to stop. We have a bunch of kids who can put the ball in the net, which is good, and they’re confident right now.”

That was visible right out of the gate in the first half, as DeLuca buried a free shot a couple of minutes in.

With Toll Gate on its heels early, Pilgrim continued to apply the pressure. Four minutes after DeLuca’s tally, she got on the score sheet in another way, this time setting up Page from behind the goal for an easy score to give the Pats a 2-0 advantage.

The next three minutes would belong to Toll Gate, as it put together its best stretch of the game.

Maddie Gothberg cut the Titans’ deficit in half at the eight-minute mark, when she walked in on a free shot and found the back of the cage.

And just two minutes later, Laurel Ten Eyck emerged from a scrum in front of the goal with the ball, before finding the net with a low shot to knot the score at 2.

From there, it was all Pilgrim.

It closed the half with five unanswered goals, getting two tallies from Lynch and one apiece from Page, Hannah Johnson and Tantimonico to send the Pats into halftime with a 7-2 cushion.

That dominant play continued in the second half, too.

The Pats controlled time of possession after the break, spending a majority of the clock in the attacking zone.

Page completed her hat trick in the opening minutes, and senior Alexia Martins added her lone goal in the game a few minutes later when she slipped a low shot by Titans’ goalkeeper Kylie Russo to balloon the lead to 9-2.

DeLuca and Tantimonico would add their second goals, respectively, down the stretch and Lynch scored her third and fourth goals to help the Pats run away with a 13-2 final.

Russo was a bright spot in net for the Titans, registering 12 challenging saves to prevent what could’ve been an even steeper margin.

Overall, though, it was clear that the startup Titans were overmatched against a veteran Pilgrim team.

“We fought, but Pilgrim is very good,” Toll Gate head coach Jim Areson said. “They’re actually where we want to go. I imagine that when it started for them it was kind of similar. The first five minutes it looked pretty good, but they were just better than us today. Their skill and their class showed as the game went on.”

Flanders and the Pats can certainly relate to where Toll Gate is. Back in 2011, Pilgrim was in the same boat as a brand new team and program in the RIIL. The Pats went 0-14 in Division III that season.

“Toll Gate’s going to be a good team very, very soon,” Flanders said. “I told [Areson] that I went through this back in 2011, and it’s always a work in progress. Once Jimmy puts his handprint on it, they’re going to have an outstanding program. But it’s always tough in the beginning.”

The transition into the RIIL is going rather smoothly for the Titans, however, as they notched their first win in just their second game.

They now sit at 1-2 and were scheduled to play at Ponaganset on Wednesday.

Pilgrim, on the other hand, was looking to move to 5-0 when it hosted Warwick Vets on Wednesday.

Results from both games were unavailable at press time.

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