Vieira's four goals lead Pilgrim past Toll Gate for division lead

Posted 10/21/14

Before she used her feet Friday afternoon, Katelyn Vieira used her hands that morning to text her Pilgrim girls’ soccer teammates.

“I woke up and the first thing I did was send all the girls a …

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Vieira's four goals lead Pilgrim past Toll Gate for division lead

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Before she used her feet Friday afternoon, Katelyn Vieira used her hands that morning to text her Pilgrim girls’ soccer teammates.

“I woke up and the first thing I did was send all the girls a text message,” Vieira said. “I said ‘Today’s our day. This is our game.’”

The message came through loud and clear.

Vieira scored four goals as Pilgrim moved to the verge of the Division II-Central title with a 5-0 victory over Toll Gate.

Coming into the game, the teams were separated by two points in the standings and they hadn’t been separated by anything when they played to a 1-1 draw the first time they met.

Toll Gate was a little short-handed to begin with on Friday – and lost two more players to injuries during the game – and Pilgrim made a few tweaks after the first meeting.

The result was just what Vieira predicted.

It was Pilgrim’s game.

“I thought if we tightened up and did a few things right, we could have a good result the next time we saw them, and we did,” said Pilgrim head coach Tom Flanders. “We changed our formation a little bit, to try and draw their sweeper out, rather than letting her be comfortable back there. The things that we did worked out well.”

Pilgrim moved to 11-2-2 while Toll Gate dropped to 9-3-3. The Pats now have 35 points to Toll Gate’s 30, and that margin isn’t likely to change. Both teams have two games remaining against teams at the bottom of the division, teams they beat handily in their first meetings. Toll Gate could still pick up six points with two victories, but would have to hope for two major missteps by Pilgrim.

Had the Titans won Friday, they would have held a one-point cushion – and that, too, probably wouldn’t have changed.

“This was basically the division,” Flanders said. “If you’re going to win the division, you probably had to win this game. We were up two, but a win would put them ahead. Then they have two winnable games and we have two winnable games. This was the game.”

Pilgrim came out fast, pushing for three corner kicks in the first two minutes of action. The Titans dodged those bullets and kept Pilgrim off the board for most of the first half, but the Pats were controlling things and the dam eventually broke.

In the 28th minute, Kendra Tantimonico won a ball in the midfield off a throw-in and slipped a perfect through ball to a sprinting Vieira. The senior – who had been bottled up by Toll Gate’s defense in the first meeting – had a step on sweeper Jordan Inkley, then reversed direction and side-stepped her to get even more space. She carried the ball to the middle of the box and hit a left-footed shot into the right side of the net.

Toll Gate actually had the next good chance, but Marisa Giard’s high-arcing shot from the left side of the box hit the cross-bar just before halftime.

But after the break, it was all Pilgrim.

Less than a minute into the second half, Vieira carried the ball toward the box and set up Emma Manosh for a shot. The Titans blocked it, but Manosh battled for possession and the ball eventually got to Vieira on the left side. She ripped a shot just inside the far post to make it 2-0.

“We knew 100 percent that the first time we played, that was not our game,” Vieira said. “There are a lot of emotions because everybody knows each other. I feel like our emotions took over in that game. Today was going to be our game. We came in with a different attitude.”

Vieira made it 3-0 in the 52nd minute with a highlight reel goal. Facing away from the net at the top of the box, she volleyed a pass over her head to Manosh, then ran toward the net. Manosh gave the ball right back and Vieira easily scored.

“She’s a big-game player,” Flanders said. “She knew how important this game was.”

Eight minutes later, Vieira headed in a corner kick to make it 4-0. It was her fourth goal of the game and her 34th goal of the season, giving her the state lead.

“This was my four years of high school,” Vieira said. “It all came down to this pretty much.”

The Pats added one more goal from Manosh in the 67th minute and cruised from there.

Toll Gate was shut-out for just the second time all season. It’s been a difficult feat in part because of the play of sophomore Hannah McNulty, who has been the state’s leading scorer ahead of Vieira the last few weeks. Pilgrim gave up a goal to McNulty in the first game, but nothing this time.

Despite the lopsided final score, Pilgrim knows it didn’t get Toll Gate’s best shot.

“I know that they were down a couple of players and you never want to play a team when they’re short-handed,” Flanders said. “They’re a competitive group. They don’t stop. They keep coming at you. The score, I don’t know if that was a good indicator of what it was. It’s always going to be a battle. I was nervous the whole game.”

But the day still belonged to the Patriots.

“I’m very proud of them,” Flanders said.

Pilgrim was scheduled to play Warwick Vets on Monday and will finish the season at East Providence on Friday. Toll Gate plays Tiverton on Wednesday and Warwick Vets on Friday.

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