Pincince’s vision becomes reality for Mount seniors
JOHNSTON — Just days after he was hired, new Mount St. Charles girls soccer coach Phil Pincince had a meeting with 10 players.
Pincince didn’t know the names of the 10 players he was meeting with, nor did he know what position they played. All he knew was those 10 players made up the program’s senior class, a class Pincince was counting on to buy into his vision and disseminate it the underclassmen.
“I love coaching and I talked to [Mount athletic director Ray Leveille] about the type of kids on the team,” Pincince said Monday afternoon. “When I met the 10 seniors, I said ‘Here’s my vision for Mount girls soccer in 2018. Finals at Rhode Island College, we’re
on the field and we win the game. I go over and shake the other coach’s hand and say ‘Good game, it could’ve gone either way.’ I turned around and watch my players celebrate.’
“That’s exactly what came to fruition.” Pincince had one detail wrong in his vision – he couldn’t foresee the Interscholastic League moving the Division II title game from RIC to Johnston High because of Friday’s heavy rain – but he proved to be prophetic with his message to those 10 seniors back in the summer. After giving up the opening two goals of the title game to undefeated Pilgrim, the Mounties rallied back behind its deep senior class to win the program’s first title of any kind.
Senior goalie Abbie Dalpe held the Patriots scoreless over the final 60 minutes and she saved the final penalty kick of the game. Seniors Katie Lynch, Kaitlyn D’Abrosca, Eileen Whalen and Nicole Lemos all converted on penalty kicks to secure the 2-2 (4-2 in penalty kicks) victory.
“Every practice is different. It’s fun and unique,” Dalpe said. “I remember the first meeting we ever had he said he had a dream that we were at RIC and he went over and shook the other coach’s hand and said ‘Good game.’ In the dream we had won. Of course we’re not at RIC, but the dream came true.”
Pincince admits he’s a “glass-half-full” person and he likes to visualize success. So, prior to Monday’s championship game against the favored Patriots, Pincince told his team about the 1980 Brown women’s team he coached to the Ivy League title. Pincince, who had just started coaching the Bears, led the team to victories over No. 2 Harvard (3-1) and No. 1 Princeton (2-0 in overtime) on back-to-back days to win the title.
“All I did was conduct them. The rest was them,” Pincince said. “This is amazing. What an accomplishment for them and the school. I’m just delighted. They’re going to remember this for the rest of their lives. How they started and how they finished. This will help them moving forward as young women knowing they can accomplish anything they put their minds to.”
There are several reasons the Mounties went from a team that underachieved and lost to Burrillville 1-0 in the Division II quarterfinals last season to a team celebrating its first title Monday afternoon. Pincince made some important tactical changes that made the Mounties difficult to score on, namely pairing sisters Eileen and Meghan Whalen in the back with Lena Nguyen and Kylie Perron.
But the biggest change Pincince made was in the team’s mindset. According to Pincince and the senior captains, the Mounties were going to win or lose games this season as a team and not as 11 individuals.
“He made us believe that we’re a team together and we not me,” senior midfielder Renee Jacques said. “If we win, we do it together. If we lose, we do it together. There’s no finger pointing ever.”
“The way we lost in the playoffs last year was an absolute heartbreak, but from the moment coach Phil came in this year, it was about we and not me,” D’Abrosca said. “He told us that there were going to be some tough times, but if we just power through it and work hard in our training sessions, we’re going to come out victorious. Looking at the scoreboard, it shows our hard work was worth it.”
It certainly wasn’t a smooth ride for Pincince and the Mounties because they dropped their first three road games and sat at just 2-3 two weeks into the season. The Mounties followed with a four-game winning streak. After dropping a 3-0 decision to Moses Brown on Oct. 13, the Mounties lost just one of their final nine games.
The Mounties only won one playoff game by more than a goal and they needed penalty-kick shootouts to win a pair of games. But, that was all part of the plan for Pincince.
“We’ve been working on penalty kicks for months working toward this goal,” D’Abrosca said. “Coach Phil always says ‘If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.’ He went through every possible scenario because he reads the game so well. He knows every situation that can happen and makes us aware of it.”
After the Mounties celebrated the victory, Pincince walked up to veteran Pilgrim coach Tom Flanders and said ‘Good game,’ just like he said he would.