It almost seemed like a girls’ soccer game wasn’t in the cards for Friday.

Toll Gate was supposed to start its tilt with Bay View at 3:30 p.m., but one of the officials was given the wrong address to City Park.

Then, once the game started around 4:05, the two sides barely played 20 minutes before another improbable obstacle reared its head. The sprinklers near Toll Gate’s goal suddenly rose from the ground, bringing an abrupt halt to the action.

While some took the opportunity to escape the oppressive 97-degree weather by running through the cascading water, Titans head coach Lonna Razza was lobbying for the game to be postponed. The sprinklers had been soaking the field for more than 30 minutes, creating wet patches across almost half the field and muddying the center of the goal.

Razza argued that the field conditions and brutal heat were enough to move the game to a later date, but Bay View head coach Roy Borges refused to comply. The game resumed soon after, but nobody won. The Titans battled back in the second half to earn a 1-1 tie and its first point in Division I this year.

Since the Titans will be without two of their best players, striker Hannah McNulty and defender Karla Wolstenholme, until Sept. 19, every point is crucial. McNulty is out with a concussion while Wolstenholme is battling illness, but both are allowed to resume practice on the aforementioned date. They can return to game play five days later.

“All things considered, I’m satisfied,” Razza said. “In the second half, they played much better than they did in the first 24 halves that we played (laughs). We’re missing some key players but these kids stepped up. I had some young kids step up who are swing players. Alyssa Silvestre and Izzy Kennedy, I can’t say enough about their play today.”

The delays in the opening 40 minutes had a visible effect on the Titans. The defense lagged after the sprinkler mishap, and the Bengals took advantage.

A Bengal shot ricocheted off the crossbar and back out into the box, but the Toll Gate defense left Alexandra Cianfarani unmarked. She buried a goal into the wide-open left side of the net to put Bay View in front.

The Titans regrouped during the abbreviated intermission. They outplayed the Bengals on both ends of the field, suffocating all efforts to grab an insurance goal while working to tie the game themselves.

“They came together in the second half and proved that they’re a team to be reckoned with,” Razza said. “I get so competitive with them. I think a little bit of me getting up and pumping them up, and them seeing that, and then them pumping each other up at every water break, I think that was the driving force to send us into the second half.”

Emma Seidenberg, who looked like McNulty trying to get her head on every corner kick, had a couple of attempts come close to finding twine. Marisa Giard also had some chances go wide. In the end, it was junior Kendra Silvia who notched the equalizer.

Silvia charged down the field past a couple of Bengal defenders and found just enough of an inlet to fire a shot towards the goal, which hit off the keeper’s hand and into the net.

Toll Gate held Bay View down on defense, too, thanks in large part to the efforts of sophomore Julia Grossi. She was all over the pitch, blocking shots with her body while making crucial tackles in the open field.

“Unbelievable,” Razza said of Grossi, whom she said was sidelined by mono for most of the summer. “If you would have told me last year that I’d have a freshman starting at the varsity level, all 80 minutes of every game, I probably would have said ‘Maybe a swing player, but I doubt it.’ She proves herself time and time again. She’s a competitor. She plays with heart, she plays with her head and can’t say enough about the kid.”

The Titans had the last, best chance of the day to pull ahead for good in the waning minutes of the second half. McKenna Leahy sent a pass in to Silvia, whose shot went just over the crossbar. Three full hours after the game was supposed to begin, it was whistled over with both sides earning a point.

Toll Gate will be without McNulty and Wolstenholme for its next four games as well, continuing Monday against Smithfield (12-2-3 in 2015) on the road. Results from that matchup were unavailable at press time.

That four-game stretch will be a gauntlet for the Titans. Their four opponents combined to go 36-20-11 last year, including D-I South winner North Kingstown (10-6-1). They will continue to need players to step up to fill the voids left by two of their stars.

“They know they can play without [McNulty and Wolstenholme],” Razza said. “They’re going to have to learn to play without them. They’re seniors. It’s a good lesson, not really one that we want to handle right now, we want to wait until next year, but they’re going to have to handle it for the next couple weeks. We’ll just go from there.”