Northmen settle for frustrating tie

West Warwick scores in final seconds to erase North Smithfield advantage

NORTH SMITHFIELD — For the first 78 minutes of Wednesday night’s Division II contest against West Warwick, the North Smithfield girls soccer team’s youth and relative inexperience at the varsity level didn’t hurt them.

But in the final two minutes when the Northmen needed to make good decisions with the ball as they looked to hold on to a one-goal lead, the Northmen made mistakes that led directly to West Warwick senior Shalyne Scott’s goal off a Deana Maynard free kick in the final seconds of the game to secure the Wizards a point in a 2-2 tie.

“This is very frustrating tbecause of the way we played rin the last two minutes,” North Smithfield coach John Pastore said. “We don’t have enough soccer IQ, because it’s common sense that if you’re up by a goal and you have the ball, you just go to the corner and try to kill off the game. We tried to play in front of our net and in our box, which baffled my mind.”

The frustration that Pastore felt after the final whistle was how West Warwick coach Dan Lima felt watching the first 65 minutes of the contest. The undefeated Wizards (2-0-2 Division II) allowed Julia Dias, Madison Reynolds and Meredith Parsons control the game, as the Northmen scored goals on either side of halftime to build a two-goal advantage.

Maynard got her team back into the game with a long-range goal with 13 minutes left and then she setup the game-tying goal in the 80th minute to secure a point.

“The way we played after we scored the first goal is the way we’re supposed to be playing,” Lima said. “We didn’t play our game at all in the first half and for the first three-quarters of the game. I was hoping something would change so we would wake up a little bit. We’ve been playing excellent early in the season, but this game was just one of those days.”

North Smithfield (1-2-2 Division II) is now undefeated in its last three games, but that fact gives Pastore little solace because the Northmen should’ve been celebrating their second consecutive win after defeating Toll Gate, 2-1, last week.

The Northmen controlled long stretches of the first half and took the lead in the 32nd minute when Dias controlled the ball in the box and played a short pass to Reynolds who scored. The Northmen continued to play well into the second half, and it led to a goal when Dias found Parsons, who found the back of the net for the second straight game.

“We were a little more aggressive going to the ball today and we tried to move the ball a little wider with our passing,” Pastore said. “We’ll be successful if we can get the ball outside. I’m pleased with Meredith, Julia and Alyssa Neary today. There are some good things we did today, but it’s frustrating because we’re going to have to work hard to find wins to reach the playoffs.”

West Warwick caught a break in the 68th minute when a Northmen midfielder turned the ball over at the top of the box, which allowed Maynard to gains possession and rip a shot past senior goalie Alyssa Naradowy.

The Wizards found life after the goal, but Sydney Thepgnore and the Northmen defense protected the one-goal lead until the final minute when Maynard delivered a free kick from the right touchline right to Scott for the game-ting goal.

“We definitely can not play this way and expect to win games,” Lima said. “Some teams are going to help us get back into games. They scored their two nice goals from far away and we kept going. That first goal changed the game because I saw us start moving the ball a lot better and creating some shots. We just didn’t have enough time to get a third goal.”

West Warwick, which allowed two goals for the first time this season, hosts undefeated Pilgrim Friday afternoon. North Smithfield travels to Westerly Saturday night.