Mounties are having a ball
Mount girls’ soccer team nets fourth straight win
WOONSOCKET — Mount St. Charles first-year girls soccer coach – and former longtime Brown University women’s soccer coach – Phil Pincince doesn’t look at the game as 22 players running around a 7,000 squareyard field trying to score goals.
Pincince views the game as a series of puzzles that his team must troubleshoot to try and break down an opponent to score. That was the case Wednesday against Johnston, where the Mounties failed to score in the first 35 minutes.
“We’ve talked about people accepting different responsibilities so we can be better at problem solving against different teams. They’ve accepted that challenge,” Pincince said. “If you saw our lineup from the first game of the season until now, we’re moving pieces of the puzzle around and solving problems. I’m very happy, but we still have to make a few more tweaks. I’m happy because they are working hard.”
The Mounties eventually solved the Panthers’ puzzle and punished the visitors with five goals in a 26-minute span. Senior forward Renee Jacques scored a pair of goals, including the game-winning effort in the 36th minute, while senior midfielder Katie Lynch, sophomore Sophie Staelen and senior Kaitlyn D’Abrosca each produced two points in the 5-0 Division II victory.
Mount St. Charles (6-3 Division II) has outscored its last four opponents 15-2 during a four-game winning streak to move into position to host a quarterfinal contest. While undefeated Pilgrim is running away with the regular-season title, the Mounties are battling Chariho, Westerly and Exeter-West Greenwich for second place.
“We talked at halftime about how we needed to win more of the second 50-50 balls in midfield,” Pincince said. “Johnston is very good and they have some very good players in [senior forward Bianca Robbins] and [midfielder Grace Muller] and we were aware of that. We needed to stop them, but I thought we did a good job of moving the ball faster in the second half, so we got them a little more disconnected in the midfield.”
“Coach is awesome,” Lynch said. “His big thing is for us to play as a team and not play as me. He also wants us to do a better job combining with passes and use the flanks.”
Johnston (3-3-1 Division II) moved up after winning last season’s Division III title. The Panthers forced senior goalie Abbie Dalpe to make a number of point-blank saves, but Dalpe, Meghan Whalen and Eileen Whalen did a superb job slowing down Robbins, who led the state in goals last season.
After coming close to scoring on two occasions late in the first half, the Mounties finally opened the scoring in the 36th minute when the Panthers failed to deal with a cross from the right touchline. Staelen kept the ball alive for Jacques to smash into the net from six yards.
It took the hosts just three minutes of the second half to double their lead and it all came from Lynch, who played a superb through ball behind the Panther defense. Gicobbe won the race to the ball and slotted a shot into the net.
“It was a two-on-two, so I attacked the space and made one of the defenders come up,” Lynch said. “Once she stepped up, I made the pass and split them, and Anna was there. I just had to curl it a little bit so she could run on to it.”
Johnston goalie Hailey Gaunt was under siege for most of the second half. The third Mount goal came in the 59th minute when D’Abrosca found Jacques for her second goal. D’Abrosca scored a goal of her own two minutes later when she headed a Lynch ball into the net. Mount finished the scoring a minute later when Jacques fed Staelen.
The Mounties step out of league play Friday evening to take on Division III Central Falls as part of a doubleheader with the boys squad. The next league contest is Wednesday afternoon, when Middletown makes the long trek from Aquidneck Island.
“I was talking to the kids last week and I said to them, ‘We have four weeks left. Have you learned enough? Do you want me to coast or do you want to keep getting better so you’re playing the best soccer at the end of the year?’” Pincince said. “They said they want to keep going. I love to teach and I love to coach.” Johnston 0 0 -0
Mount St. Charles 1 4 - 5
First half – MSC, Renee Jacques (Sophie Staelen), 36:00.
Second half – MSC, Anna Gicobbe (Katie Lynch), 43:00; MSC, Jacques (Kaitlyn D’Abrosca), 59:00; MSC, D’Abrosca (Lynch) 61:00; MSC, Staelen (Jacques), 62:00.
Saves – J, Hailey Gaunt (10 saves); MSC, Abbie Dalpe (7 saves).