Rossi penalty kick lifts Tigers
Tolman wins physical contest to close in on D-III playoff spot
PAWTUCKET – If you think the athletic rivalry between Tolman and Shea has waned over the years, and have longed for a “comeback,” you would’ve loved the Division III showdown between the two at the McKinnon-Alves Complex on chilly Thursday afternoon.
It was that physical.
In fact, a foul call for an aggressive play in the Raiders’ penalty box with five minutes left in regulation played a part in the outcome. At that time, SHS senior Admiria Garcia tripped freshman Nataly Santos while she carried the ball in the box, and officials immediately ruled a penalty kick be taken.
Seconds later, junior Emily Rossi used her left foot to rifle her try off sophomore keeper Michelle Santos’ hand and inside the left post to lift the Tigers to a satisfying 2-1 victory.
“I wasn’t surprised; the refs are going to call that every time,” stated Raiders’ head coach Yiannis Noel, whose squad fell to 6-6-1 overall and 4-6-1 in league action. “It was a trip from behind, the girl went down hard, that’s why I didn’t dispute it.
“It’s hard to lose that way, but we played shorthanded,” he added. “We’re missing three of our best players for assorted reasons, and that doesn’t help. Their absence was definitely felt; I had to start Michelle Santos in goal because we have a shortage of keepers right now. She’s usually one of our midfielders, and a good one.
“I thought we played well overall, but we never really generated any offense due to our midfield play. We weren’t consistent enough.”
Tolman improved to 4-5-1 overall and in D-III, and did so the strength of its superior passing and defense on this day.
“I thought we played hard, played well right out of the gate, which has been a problem for us over the past few weeks,” noted co-head coach A.J. LaScola. “We have been really slow starters, and we did a good job of fixing that here. We came out firing.”
“Mickenzie did an outstanding job in the midfield, making smart passes and distributing them to the girls, and you can’t say enough about Nataly Santos, who’s a small girl but really battled her way through fouls in the offensive zone,” offered fellow co-coach Gavin Ward. “Then there’s (junior Alex) ‘Xandi’Clark, who was menacing out there.
“She told me five weeks ago she had never kicked a soccer ball, but she’s made significant improvements in a lot of phases.
It appeared the hosts had taken the 1-0 lead with about 22 minutes remaining in the opening session. Junior Melissa Esteban rapped a crossing pass to classmate Haleigh Correira on the right, and she raced in and fired on Santos, who had come out of the net to cut down the angle. Correia chased down the rebound, which had caromed to the goalie’s left, and shot again, yet Santos responded with an astonishing slap save.
Less than two minutes later, Correia had another chance, gaining possession of a loose ball to the left of the cage and drilling a try at net, but Santos made another sterling stop.
She nevertheless wasn’t as lucky in the 37th minute; that’s when Aldridge smoked a 10-yard attempt, one that Santos initially blocked, but it trickled off her and over the goal line to make it 1-0.
Five minutes into the second stanza, junior Uani Gomes sprinted down the left side on a breakaway and unleashed a shot on Carman, though she came out of the net and snatched it. And, seven minutes after that, sophomore Jayde Fernandes looked like she’s even it up for Shea when she nailed a 30-plus liner at Carman, but that flew just over the crossbar.
In the 57th minute, Santos already had made a save when the ball bounded out to Esteban in front. She immediately knocked it past Santos, yet Fernandes made a spectacular boot-away right in front of the left post to keep the deficit to one.
Gomes knotted it after gaining a rebound off of Carman and chipping it home.
That merely set up Rossi’s heroics off the foul.
“I know we outshot them (12-4), and I thought we controlled possession, we had better chances on net,” Ward said. “I believe the final score could have been a wider margin, but their goalkeeper did an outstanding job, making smart decisions and some great saves.”