The Pilgrim boys’ soccer team’s first goal came at a great time.

After going scoreless in the Injury Fund and in the season opener against Cranston East, Pilgrim came away with a 1-0 victory over Davies at Bend Street on Friday, as freshman Danny Peixinho buried the game’s lone goal midway through the second half.

“I’m very proud of them because they work very hard in practice,” Pilgrim head coach Bill Carroll said. “I’m happy we got that goal, too. We didn’t get a goal all preseason, but it wasn’t like we didn’t have the chances. We have a lot of young kids in there who were nervous, so goals will come. It was great to see Danny Peixinho, a freshman, get that goal.”

The first half went by without many chances.

Davies earned the better of the play in that opening half, but Pilgrim’s defense, led by junior captain Matt Woods and senior captain Ben Hunt, minimized any quality chances for the Patriots.

Davies’ best chance of the half came on a free kick from just outside the box. The initial bid was blocked down by a wall of Pilgrim players, but the ball ricocheted to Virgilio Gomez in front. Fortunately for Pilgrim, Gomez’s point-blank shot sailed over the crossbar to preserve the stalemate.

In the second half, the field was tilted in Pilgrim’s favor.

Its defense remained stellar, but its offense, which produced few chances in the first half, began to put pressure on Davies’ back line.

After earning no corner kicks in the opening half, the Pats had five corners after halftime, while doubling up Davies in shots as well.

Pilgrim nearly went ahead on its second corner of the half, when Niall Blackadar sent a good ball into the box for Woods, but his header went just north of the crossbar.

The next Pilgrim corner would have a better result.

About 10 minutes later, Blackadar sent another ball into the box, finding Peixinho through a scrum, who calmly buried the ball into the lower left corner of the goal to make it 1-0.

Pilgrim had no problem shutting down a visibly-deflated Davies team after that, and the standout Pilgrim defense was a big reason why.

On the 90-degree day, the Pats proved to be the better conditioned team, with Davies wearing down as each minute rolled forward.

Making Davies work and limiting its space was the game plan for Pilgrim.

“[Davies] is a very skilled team and, if you stand off them, they’ll take you apart,” Carroll said. “The key is to get on top of them, force them to make a pass and keep clamping down on them. We did that much better in the second half, which allowed us to have the ball more and move it and dominate the second half.”

Davies had a late corner, but the bid was snatched by keeper Sean Blanchard to preserve the shutout win.

The victory improves Pilgrim’s record to 1-0-1, as it played Cranston East to a scoreless tie in the opener.

Pilgrim was looking to keep its momentum rolling against Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy on Monday, but results were unavailable at press time.

However, getting its first victory out of the way and seeing the ball go in the goal should do wonders for a young Pilgrim team’s confidence.

“This is going to help their confidence,” Carroll said. “The longer you go without scoring, you could see the relief when the ball went in the goal today. Once they start putting them away, it’s contagious. This was a good team we played and, to beat them, I’m more than happy with that.”