Lincoln shocks MP with late goal, shootout victory
The No. 4 Lincoln boys soccer team rallied from a goal down and forced penalty kicks before beating No. 8 Mount Pleasant, 2-1, on Thursday night in a rainy Division II semifinal at Johnston High School.
Marvin Sauro gave Mount Pleasant a 1-0 lead with 28:24 remaining in the first half when he dribbled up the middle and snuck a shot into the lower right part of the goal.
With 21:42 left, Sauro tried to increase the Kilties buffer, but missed with a scissor-kick blast which went just left of the far post.
Lincoln then had a chance with 32:12 remaining in the second half when Tom Corcoran sent an indirect kick into the box, but a header attempt by Matt Carvalho went wide left.
Ten minutes later, Mount Pleasant’s Andy Trochez fired a rocket from the left side from 30 yards deep, which went off the chest of Lincoln’s goalkeeper Oskar Caldarone, before the keeper covered it up with 22:43 left.
Four minutes after that, Lincoln senior defenseman Matt Morra had a 22-yard bullet denied by Kilties keeper Hector Lopez.
Then, with 6:02 remaining Lincoln’s Corcoran sent a cross pass to Morra, and again Morra had a shot rejected by Lopez.
But with just 49 seconds left in the match, Morra coincidentally found twine when he sent a pass towards the box and instead it went in for a goal and knotted the game at 1.
“We had to send the ball in and he just sent it in and it was the right angle and it went in the goal,” Lions head coach John D’Aloisio said.
After that, the squads battled through two 5-minute sudden-death overtimes, but that didn’t work neither, so the match was decided by penalty kicks.
Mount Pleasant’s Matt Saurez converted on his first attempt, and then Lincoln’s David Idarraga evened it at 1.
Next, Trochez scored for the Kilties and Chris Albanese followed with a goal for Lincoln, which tied it at 2.
Lincoln’s Caldarone denied John Deleon Ruiz after that, and then Lincoln’s Corcoran put the Lions up 3-2 when he put a bullet into the left side of the cage.
Caldarone, Lincoln’s freshman keeper came up with a big spot just when his team needed it most.
“Oskar seems to excel at those types of situations,” D’Aloisio said. “He’s always made comments about how he’s good at penalty kicks and that type of thing and he sure proved it tonight.”
Mount Pleasant tied the score at 3 when Kevin Borjas scored, and then Mount Pleasant’s Lopez denied Chris Accardi.
Finally, Mount Pleasant’s Sorto booted a shot over the crossbar and Sam Ferranti buried the game-winning kick to secure the victory.
“You’re just happy to still be alive,” D’Aloisio said. “You can see all these games, they’re all close. So, any one of these teams can win. So, it’s an emotional roller-coaster.”
While the Lions move on to face No. 2 North Smithfield in Sunday’s final at Cranston Stadium, the Kilties now head home in what was a special season for the program.
“I think in 12 years, this is our first semifinal,” Mount Pleasant’s Trochez said. “I’m glad I had the opportunity. It’s my senior year here at Mount Pleasant and we pushed through. All season we pushed through. And this is a great team. I’m glad that I was able to play with such a great team and I think we deserved a bit better, but you know that’s how soccer is. You either win or you lose, but you’ve always got to push through. And I give thanks to my coach and my teammates and God over all.”
Caldarone made four saves during regulation and both overtimes and Lopez made seven stops for the Kilties.