Kendra Tantimonico potted two goals and picked up an assist en route to the Pats’ 4-1 victory over East Providence during senior night on Friday.

Pilgrim (14-2-0) controls its own destiny heading into its final matchup of the season, on the road against the Townies on Monday at 3:30 p.m. If the Pats win, they would move into a tie for first place with Toll Gate (15-2-0) in Division II-Central. However, Pilgrim controls the tiebreaker of goals allowed, yielding six fewer goals (11) than the Titans (17), and would take the No. 2 seed for the playoffs.

“I think they’re playing very relaxed,” Pilgrim head coach Tom Flanders said. “They’re feeling confident in their abilities, they feel confident in their teammates, and hopefully they feel confident in their coach. We’ll see what we can do, and it will really start to heat up in the next few days. Once you play that final game and the playoffs are on the horizon, that’s when things get serious.”

The Pats’ offense was kept quiet for the first 25 minutes, but it had some chances. Tantimonico sent a through ball to freshman Alexis Vieira, but she couldn’t push past the defense for the shot. Freshman Jordan Petrucci had an opportunity on a rebound following a corner kick, but the put-back went just right out of bounds.

The Townies had no luck getting past the swarming Pilgrim defense, which wasn’t playing at 100 percent health. Their only chance in the first half came when Harley LeClair had a chance developing in the box, but goalkeeper Hannah Page came out to knock the ball away.

“They play extremely well,” Flanders said of his defense. “They take a lot of pride in protecting [Page]. Soph[ia DeLuca] was a little hurt tonight, so we plug in, we have five that we usually play in the back. So, [Emily] Heon, [Erin] Plowman, Jess O’Leary and Liz McGowan, and then Sophia. They take a lot of pride in protection.”

Pilgrim struck first, and with a little help from its senior core. Molly Lynch took a pass from Tantimonico and chipped it to the left post over the head of goalkeeper Devon Federowicz to put the Pats on top 1-0.

Minutes later, Tantimonico got in on the scoring. She took a pass from Guilia Marsella inside the box and battled against three defenders. After dribbling the ball for a few seconds, she lined up a near-perfect shot and put it past Federowicz. Pilgrim’s lead stood at 2-0 entering halftime.

“She’s a special kid,” Flanders said of Tantimonico. “She can play at the next level. I hope a college coach sees her and can give her an opportunity, because she can certainly help a program at the next level. She’s a very gifted athlete and strong, tall girl. She’s got all the attributes that the next level’s looking for.”

The Pats picked up right where they left off just eight minutes into the second half. Senior Alexia Martins sent a pass up from about midfield to Vieira, who narrowly beat an offsides call. She dribbled by a couple defenders and drilled the ball by Federowicz.

East Providence’s play got chippy after the deficit ballooned to three goals. The opportunities were not coming for the Townies as Pilgrim’s defensive wall was unbreakable for most of the game. Most transitions didn’t get past midfield as the Pats were too fast and always on top of the ball.

The speedy Tantimonico felt the most pressure, getting fouled on one occasion and being pushed around in the box as East Providence struggled to stop her.

She would make the Townies pay, though.

After the ball squirted away from Ellen Strain when she was challenged hard in the box, Tantimonico came over for an unguarded shot that she fired past Federowicz. Tantimonico celebrated the goal with an emphatic fist pump.

“The other team, they kind of antagonized me,” Tantimonico said with a laugh. “The only way to shut a team up is to pound them in the goal.”

The Townies’ first and only shot-on-goal of the night came in the 80th minute when striker Grace Abrams managed a breakaway that Page wasn’t ready to defend. She put the shot left post, but the wound was superficial for Pilgrim as the time expired quickly afterwards.

Results for Pilgrim’s final regular season game at East Providence on Monday were not available at press time.

The Pats will have a difficult time defending their title no matter which seed they get, but there is no lack of confidence on the sidelines. After Page and Lynch both guaranteed a state championship repeat, Tantimonico echoed her teammates.

“We’re gonna go to the end,” Tantimonico said. “I’m very confident. I believe in my team, and we believe in each other and that’s all that matters, and our coach believes in us too and we believe that he can take us to the end, too.”