Pilgrim gets first win, misses chance for second

Posted 9/30/14

All things considered, it was a better week than usual for the Pilgrim boys’ soccer team, but it didn’t end on a good note. After getting their first win of the season last Monday, the Patriots …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Pilgrim gets first win, misses chance for second

Posted

All things considered, it was a better week than usual for the Pilgrim boys’ soccer team, but it didn’t end on a good note. After getting their first win of the season last Monday, the Patriots let a prime opportunity for another win slip away on Friday with a 1-0 loss to Lincoln. The game was there for the taking for both teams, and the previously winless Lions grabbed it with a goal in the 76th minute.

“It was a game we could have won, with a little more intensity,” said Pilgrim head coach Bill Carroll. “I thought after the win on Monday, they’d be up for this, but they weren’t. I think they thought they were very good after one win and didn’t have to put the effort in again.”

Pilgrim dropped to 1-6 with the loss.

The victory came against Middletown on Monday night. The Pats went on the road and did just what Lincoln did Friday, scoring a late goal to win 1-0. Freshman Matt Woods notched the goal, with an assist from David Saran. Goalie Liam Strain made four saves, and the defense led by captains Saran, Chris Ray and Devin Ramos excelled.

“They worked hard,” Carroll said. “They physically shut down everyone. We dictated the pace of the game. They were fired up.”

The Pats have an extremely young team surrounding a small senior class, and the win seemed like a step in the right direction. Carroll expected another step Friday, but it didn’t happen. Even if the game had ended in a 0-0 tie, the Pats wouldn’t have been happy about it.

“We told them, the intensity they had Monday, that was the intensity they had to keep up,” Carroll said. “Without that intensity, we just drop and we don’t have anything magical to wrap the finishing goals up. We’ve got to work.”

Both teams applied pressure throughout Friday’s game, but golden opportunities were few and far between. The Pats got their best first-half look after a Lincoln turnover and a crossing pass by Woods. But Austin Asoroona’s shot skipped wide.

In the second half, Pilgrim’s Thomas McMullen put a close-range shot on net, but Lincoln goalie Myer Hussain made the save. Hussain also gathered in a free kick by Saran just before a Pilgrim player could get to the ball.

“The last final pass was not there,” Carroll said. “When it was, we couldn’t finish. The record shows – we’ve scored three goals. We can’t score. We don’t have a natural finisher. We don’t have that creativity to put it in there and create easy chances.”

The Lions started to get the better of the chances in the latter part of the second half. It looked like Pilgrim would hold them off – Strain finished with 22 saves – but with just over four minutes to go, they broke through. Ben Howard made a run on the left edge of the box, juked past a defender and headed toward the post. Strain saved his shot, but the rebound went to Nick Palumbo, who punched it past a diving Strain for the only goal.

“The defense has been playing well, but they get tired,” Carroll said.

Pilgrim didn’t have another quality chance after the goal and ended up with the loss.

The Pats will visit Cranston West today at 3:30 p.m. On Thursday, they’ll head to Coventry.

“We’ve just got to stay in games, scrap and see what we can get out of it,” Carroll said.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here