Pilgrim too much for NS
New coach Higginbotham excited to coach young team
WARWICK – Monday’s outcome left the North Smithfield High girls’ soccer team hoping for another crack at Pilgrim once the Division II playoffs roll around.
The 5-0 victory by the Patriots was made possible by junior striker Lily Brown, who finished with three goals and two assists. Pilgrim raced out to a 3-0 lead at halftime and never looked back en route to improving to 2-0 on the young season.
The Northmen fell to 1-1 with another road game on tap for Thursday afternoon at St. Raphael. North Smithfield is under the direction of first-year head coach Nicole Higginbotham, who was officially appointed during the summer. Previously, she was an assistant women’s soccer coach at Johnson & Wales and also coached girls soccer at East Greenwich High. In the offseason, she heads down to the URI where she coaches the Rams FC U16 girls team.
“New faces, new program,” said Higginbotham, also a teacher at North Smithfield
Middle School.
With no JV program and no freshmen on this year’s varsity roster, Higginbotham has her fingers crossed regarding the health of the Northmen. As someone who’s been around a college program, she understands the steps that a young athlete must take in order to stay on the right path.
“It’s all about nutrition, hydration, stretching, and team bonding. I can’t lose any of them to injury,” she said. “It’s been tough, but I’ve got a great group of girls. We can all joke around. At the same time, we get things done. Overall, it’s been really positive.”
As for Monday’s game, Higginbotham felt Pilgrim’s ability to set the tone early proved to be the difference maker. The Northmen mustered eight shots on goal compared to 16 for the Patriots.
“We gave the ball away way too much and didn’t get into the flow of the possession style that I prefer to play,” said Higginbotham. “We started to get a little bit of momentum at the end of the first half, but we made a lot of mistakes that made it twice as hard to get into a rhythm.
“We’re hoping to see them in the playoffs, that’s a definite,” Higginbotham added.
The new coach appointed senior Maddie Reynolds and junior Alyson Paux as this year’s captains.
“I turn to them a lot and check in a couple times a week to ask about the morale and if they are any issues off the field that I need to know about,” said Higginbotham. “When Maddie found out that I was the coach, she called me up and gave me a rundown of the entire team. That made me really excited to get started, but they were already a tight-knit group before I got here. That’s made this such an easy transition for me.”