Last-minute frustration
Mounties give up late goal; settle for draw
WOONSOCKET — With just 90 seconds left in Monday afternoon’s game, it looked like the Mount St. Charles boys soccer team was going to earn three points despite not being at its best.
But visiting Coventry, which also struggled to find any cohesion for long stretches of the disjointed contest, secured a valuable Division II road point when sophomore striker Jake Rathbun redirected a Nick Mitchell corner kick into the net in a 1-1 tie.
“Just bad communication in the last two minutes in the back,” Mount St. Charles coach Paul Jacques said. “That’s where sometimes the inexperience of our goalie comes in, but the other point is we didn’t hustle back on defense for that last corner. This was a typical Monday game coming off a weekend after playing on Friday.”
“The kids showed some resilience and they played much better in the second
half,” veteran Coventry coach Jamie Cotnoir said. “We’re having a tough time finding our rhythm in the first half. We’re going to have to find that problem and fix it real soon. It’s choppy and ugly and we’re trying to force the ball everywhere. We just need to take a deep breath and play the game.”
Mount St. Charles (4-2-2 Division II) had a chance to jump into a second-place tie with Smithfield if the Mounties had held out for two more minutes. As it is, the Mounties are now tied with Wheeler for fourth place. The top four teams will earn a home quarterfinal.
Sophomore goalie Jacob Maddalena continued his solid start to his first varsity season, as he recorded five saves He’s also allowed just two goals during a four-game unbeaten run.
“It’s absolutely frustrating not to get three points,” Jacques said. “We were a minute thirty away from winning the game and that might come back to bite us at some point later in the season.”
Coventry (3-3-2 Division II) have already lost as many games this season as last season, but Cotnoir graduated a number of important players, including Rob Regine, Matt Buglio and Matt Johnson. This season’s squad is currently riding a three-match unbeaten streak headed into Wednesday’s home game with North Smithfield.
Cotnoir said he likes his team’s work ethic, but the squad needs to play better soccer in the first half if they want to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“This is a tough team for us to play and they’re always a hard matchup, so I’m happy to come away with a tie,” Cotnoir said. “I think we need to figure out who we are before the playoffs come along. Are we that team that comes along in the second half or are we that team that can string it together for 80 minutes.”
Neither team created too many scoring opportunities in the opening half, but the Oakers had the better of the chances. Mitchell hit the side of Maddalena’s net in the 28th minute and junior captain Jamie Donahue also had a good scoring chance go wanting.
The Mounties were the better team in the second half thanks to improved passing and more aggression in the midfield. Jake MacKinnon nearly scored off a corner kick just three minutes into the second half and Tom Burke had a headed opportunity just miss Cam Major’s net.
Finally, in the 63rd minute, the Mounties grabbed a goal when Dre Danneker played a ball through to senior Jake Lawrence, who ripped a shot past Major from the left side of the penalty box.
“That was a great shot by Jake Lawrence, but it felt like for most of the game we weren’t as composed as we were Friday [in a 5-0 win over Toll Gate],” Jacques said. “We were trying to force a couple of things here and there and that came back to bite us.”
John Collins nearly doubled the lead four minutes later, but Major palmed away a drive from the top of the box. Just 90 seconds before a Mountie win, the Oakers scored on Rathbun’s redirection to earn an important road point.
Mount St. Charles 1, Coventry 1
Coventry 0 1 -1 Mount St. Charles 0 1 -1 First half – No scoring. Second half – MSC, Jacob Lawrence (Dre Danneker), 63:00; Jacob Rathbun (Nick Mitchell), 79:00. Saves – Cameron Major (8 saves); MSC, Jacob Maddalena (5 saves).