Pilgrim falls to Mounties in finals

By RYAN D. MURRAY
Posted 11/15/18

By RYAN D. MURRAY The previously undefeated Pilgrim Lady Patriots surrendered a two-goal lead and fell 3-2 to the Mount St. Charles Mounties during the Division II Girls Soccer Final on Monday afternoon at Johnston High School. The squads battled through

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Pilgrim falls to Mounties in finals

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The previously undefeated Pilgrim Lady Patriots surrendered a two-goal lead and fell 3-2 to the Mount St. Charles Mounties during the Division II Girls Soccer Final on Monday afternoon at Johnston High School.

The squads battled through two scoreless five-minute overtimes before Mount St. Charles beat the Lady Pats 4-2 in penalty kicks and took the crown.

Pilgrim had several chances to put the game away, but they were unsuccessful.

“It was one of those things where we had opportunities and we didn’t take care of the opportunities when we had them and that kind of came back to haunt us,” Lady Pats head coach Tom Flanders said. “And, in a game like this, you’ve got to finish your opportunities. You can’t allow good teams like that to hang around. And then, when you go into shootouts, you leave everything to chance.”

Though, it was not the end result they wanted, the Lady Pats had a near-perfect season.

“They had a great ride,” Flanders said. “It was a fantastic team and we enjoyed ourselves. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get the result we wanted today, but I couldn’t be prouder of the group. They battled in games, tough places. They were 18-0 coming into the game and it’s not easy with that on your head. You get everyone’s greatest game and it’s a tough thing to battle through and it was just one of those things today.”

Twenty-three minutes into the contest, Pilgrim got the first goal when senior midfielder Jordan Petrucci launched a long pass to freshman striker Alanna Coffie, who sprinted by two defenders to chase it down and blasted a bullet past Mount St. Charles senior goalkeeper Abigail Dalpe while giving the Pats a 1-0 advantage.

With just over 11 minutes to play in the half, Pilgrim added to its lead when senior striker Alexis Vieira stole the ball and rocketed a shot into the back of the net from 25 yards out and extended the Lady Pats edge to 2-0.

But, with 57 seconds left in the half, Mount St. Charles took advantage of a blunder and pulled within 2-1 when freshman forward Anna Giacobbe scored after Pilgrim freshman goalkeeper Janelle Mixner came out of the net.

Eight and a half minutes into the second half, the Mounties got the equalizer when senior Katie Lynch accepted a pass from Kaitlyn D’Abrosca and buried a blast into the net from 8 yards out and knotted the game at 2.

A minute later, Pilgrim’s Coffie had a chance, but her shot went high and off the hands of Dalpe before sailing over the net.

Then, with just over eight minutes to play, Pilgrim senior standout McKenna Leahy ricocheted a shot off the crossbar from 15 yards deep before a charging Coffie, put the rebound wide right.

Two minutes after that, Mount St. Charles senior Nicole Lemos had a header blocked by Mixner after a corner kick from teammate Delaney Green.

Then, with four minutes to play, Coffie had another chance during a fast break, but she was denied by Dalpe.

Mount St. Charles had an opportunity to go ahead, one minute into the second overtime, but Mixner made a phenomenal save on a breakaway shot attempt from Giacobbe, and then, the freshman covered up the ball before Giacobbe could get off another try.

Nonetheless, the Mounties would make all four of their penalty kicks on their way to a 4-2 shootout win. Those tallies came from Lemos, Lynch, D’Abrosca, and Eileen Whalen.

Mount St. Charlies’ Dalpe had 17 saves in the contest while Mixner made nine stops for Pilgrim.

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