ALIVE AND KICKIN’
Tolman returns to state final
Showing a flair for the dramatic, the Lincoln High School boys’ soccer team waited until the last minute to tie up (1-1) its Division II semifinal match-up with Mount Pleasant, then advanced by virtue of their 4-3 advantage in penalty kicks Here, Lincoln’s Thomas Zhao (7) plays a through ball during regulation. It was a far cry from the team’s regular-season meeting on Oct. 3, a decisive, 7-3 victory for the Lions.
EAST GREENWICH – For the Tolman High boys soccer team, the dream of repeating as state champions remains very much alive.
In a Division I semifinal matchup featuring this year’s top seed (North Kingstown) and the reigning title winners, it was the defending champs who prevailed. With goals from junior Edson Viera and sophomore Nicolas Torres along with another brilliant effort in goal by junior Nelton Semedo, the fifth-seeded Tigers on Thursday night held on for a 2-1 victory at rainy and wind-driven Carcieri Field.
Next up for Tolman is a championship game appearance that’s scheduled for Sunday at noon with Cranston Stadium serving as the venue.
The opponent will be a familiar one as La Salle got past South Kingstown in the other D-I semifinal. Tolman and La Salle meet in last year’s final with the Tigers clawing their way to the top courtesy of a 2-1 win.
Booking a return trip to the finals wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for the Tigers, who led 1-0 at the half but could have easily been up a few more goals. When Tolman finally extended its lead to 2-0 at the 18:44 mark of the second half, it appeared that head coach Dan Silva and his players could breathe a little easier.
Instead, the Tigers were forced to sweat this one out. North Kingstown halved the deficit just two minutes and 16 seconds after Torres buried his lone chance of the game. Then came a yellow card against Tolman at 6:20 with the Rebels ringing one off the far post with 3:25 remaining.
No one said it would be easy, but Silva believed that Tolman could have made life much easier on itself on an evening when the conditions were far from ideal.
“Honestly, I thought we didn’t play well. Up 2-0 and to let them back in the game that quickly … I have high expectations right now,” said Silva. “I didn’t think North Kingstown did a lot, but we allowed them to hang around. We haven’t done well in terms of sweating games out. We keep letting teams back in, but at least we held on today.”
Tolman was clearly the more aggressive team at the onset and was able to that aggression to its full advantage. Barely three minutes had disappeared when senior Juan Barrios unleashed a cross feed that Viera turned into a goal.
“It looked like (Viera) got his toe on it and it rolled just perfect,” said Silva. “You don’t practice that one.”
The Tolman players took turns in the flummoxing the Skippers, from usual defensive stalwarts Tiago Da Costa and Patrick Pires along with Aliou Sissoko and Juan Barrios. North Kingstown’s best chance in the opening half came when Owen Ennis had some room along the far side, yet Semedo (eight saves) came out to challenge the shot before emphatically knocking it out of bounds.
“Nelton was amazing once again,” said Silva. “He had more to do tonight than he did (in the quarterfinals against Moses Brown). Sometimes it’s a little scary when he comes out of his box, but we have this mentality that if one guy falls, someone else will be there to pick him up.”
It remained a one-goal game until Torres went on the attack after taking a feed from Pires.
“We told (Torres) that if he got one chance in the game, he was going to have to bury it,” said Silva. “For a kid who had never played at this level before … this is his first season as a varsity starter. He was emotional and had tears in his eyes. That was really good for him.”
A cross pass from NK’s Ennis to Connor Froberg helped make it a one-goal game with plenty of time remaining. The Rebels had a couple of great chances to tie the game late, yet the Tigers stood tall.
“Honestly, my goal this year was to [reach the semis] and see what happens from here,” said Silva after his Tigers won for the 11th time in 12 tries. “We lost some key guys, but those who watched last year, they’re getting a chance and they’ve stepped up.”