Raposo's brace sends Pilgrim over Toll Gate

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 10/27/16

Senior Kat Raposo transferred to Pilgrim after Warwick Vets closed as a high school this spring, but it was as though she never left. On her old home field, Raposo notched two goals on senior night to propel

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Raposo's brace sends Pilgrim over Toll Gate

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Senior Kat Raposo transferred to Pilgrim after Warwick Vets closed as a high school this spring, but it was as though she never left.

On her old home field, Raposo notched two goals on senior night to propel Pilgrim (3-12-0) past Toll Gate, 4-1. Sophomores Alexis Vieira and Jordan Petrucci each chipped in a goal as well.

“Kids play for the jersey that they wear,” Pilgrim head coach Tom Flanders said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in the jersey, year after year, it doesn’t matter the record, anything. I’ve done these games when it was Vets/Pilgrim, Vets/Toll Gate, whatever the thing is. It doesn’t matter who the faces are, it’s going to be a good game.”

Both sides played a defensive battle in the first 20 minutes, but the Pats finally broke through after a few scoring chances. Raposo displayed some fancy footwork in the Titans’ box in the 22nd minute, dancing around several defenders before putting a shot low into the net.

“She has a great work ethic,” Flanders said of Raposo. “She came in, I had a chat with her, made her a captain and [it was] one of the best moves I made in 25 years of coaching high school soccer. She turned out to be fantastic. She blended right in with the other kids. She’s jumped in goal for us, she’s a very unselfish kid.”

She registered the eventual game-winner six minutes later, sending another line drive past goalkeeper Caileigh Blackmer to give the Pats a 2-0 advantage.

A laser off the foot of Vieira in the 35th minute would bump Pilgrim’s lead up to 3-0. Sophomore Madison Dowling and senior Jess O’Leary, who replaced Dowling early in the second half due to a minor injury, combined to hold off the Toll Gate attack in net.

Titans freshman Luna Bernardo got her squad on the board with a roller in the 70th minute, but Pilgrim answered back to put the game away. Senior Ellen Strain fed Petrucci inside the box four minutes later, leading to the fourth Pats score of the evening.

Pilgrim honored its four seniors, Raposo, O’Leary, Strain and Jeriann Evans during a halftime ceremony.

Both Toll Gate (1-12-2) and Pilgrim will finish out their first seasons in Division I this week. The Titans travel to winless Exeter/West Greenwich today at 3:30 p.m. Pilgrim hosts Barrington today at 6 p.m. at Warwick Vets.

“I think they understand that soccer’s a lot more than just kicking a ball in a net, and that these things that they’re learning, the lessons that they’re learning are going to help them now and in the future,” Flanders said of his team’s first year in D-I. “I looked out the other day and out of the 11, there were nine freshmen [and] sophomores running around. We have four quality seniors, but we have a good, young group that certainly took some lumps this year, but with every lump, you learn something.”

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