Pats upend Lynx for first title since 1981

Warwick Beacon ·

Nothing like a little rain to go along with ending a championship drought.

It was a fitting backdrop Sunday evening for Pilgrim field hockey, which had not captured a state title since 1981 under the tutelage of Betty Marquis. The Pats were the last team into the Division II playoffs, and upset their way past Chariho and Tiverton into the final round.

“We kind of adapted the motto, ‘Why not us?” Pilgrim head coach Stephanie Shields said. “We played great towards the end of the season, we got on a little run and we knew that if we played the way we could play, that we were going to be able to do something special here, and we definitely did.”

Pilgrim faced top-seeded Lincoln School at Roger Williams University, erasing a 1-0 halftime deficit to come back for a 2-1 victory after a goal from senior captain Paula Cavanagh with four minutes left. As the rain intensified, so did the celebration as the seconds ticked off the clock.

As Pilgrim hoisted its championship plaque, the scene represented one of the first real triumphs of the arduous consolidation process.

“The consolidation of the Warwick schools was really tough,” Shields said. “I think it’s great for all of our kids, especially the Vets kids. It’s a great way for them to all come together.”

The Pats were beleaguered in the first half, spending most of the opening 30 minutes with their backs against the wall. Pilgrim yielded 13 corner hits, and 22 overall, but allowed the Lynx to benefit from only one of them.

Senior captain Charlotte DiPrete took the corner pass in the 16th minute and unleashed a rocket that deflected past Pats junior goalkeeper Lindsey Fontes. The Lynx had the lead and all the momentum, and the chances would multiply from there.

“I just rely on my team,” Fontes said. “They’re very supportive and in certain situations they’re always picking me up, especially when that first goal went in. I knew they were going to score, it just kept me going. Just got to put in 110 percent and hope your team does the same.”

Fontes and the defense were under siege after that point, facing corner after corner and managing to clear every time. Fontes remained collected under pressure, while sweeper Addison Murphy performed damage control with the defense.

“With Lindsey in goal and our defense back there, we have a lot of confidence in them,” Shields said. “I’ve got to give our flyer, Addison Murphy, some credit, she was just phenomenal. She, probably in the state, gets to more corners and is able to break more up than anyone else. Without that, they definitely would have had a few more goals.”

When the halftime buzzer sounded and the dust settled, Pilgrim was able to take a breath and regroup facing the 1-0 deficit.

“The message [at half] was ‘Don’t play like you’re afraid to lose, play like you want to win,’” Cavanagh said. “For the first half, we were playing a lot of defense and when that happens, you can’t win a game if you play defense, but you can win a game when you play defense but you also play the best offense you can. If you’re playing like you’re afraid to lose, then you can’t win; but if you play like you want to win, then you can do it.”

Lincoln still controlled the game out of the break, but the Pats found some life. Cavanagh helped produce their best chance thus far, centering a pass in the box that eluded the sticks of two unmarked Pilgrim forwards.

The Pats equalized with 16 minutes to go thanks to a Pilgrim-Vets connection. Captain Stephanie Langevin fed Morgan Oliver inside near the right post, and she beat senior goalkeeper Adeline Danyla to get her upset-minded squad on the board.

“In the beginning, it was a little rough, we had some players playing the same position so we had to move people around,” Fontes said of combining the Pilgrim and Vets contributors. “As the season went on, I think it worked really well, and I’m really glad that they came over because this wouldn’t have been possible without them.”

That insurance goal eluded the Lynx all game, and now they needed it more than ever. They were forced to kill off Lynn DeFeo’s five-minute penalty before calling their timeout with just more than eight minutes to go.

Lincoln followed up that discussion with two corner hits, but Fontes proved to be a stalwart again. She booted the ball out and her defense did the rest, setting up what would be the game-winner.

Pilgrim was awarded a corner hit, and the ball floated out to Karly Evans near the top of the box. Evans hit Cavanagh in the middle of the box, and she wheeled around to put the dagger past Danyla.

“I remember it going out to Karly, and [she] hit it in, and then I just picked my head up and went for the corner like I was supposed to do,” Cavanagh said. “Everyone was there doing their job if it were to miss. It was a great moment. Exactly what we wanted to do.”

Fontes and the back line withstood another flurry of opportunities, including three more corner hits for the Lynx in the last two minutes. One shot attempt rolled just past the right post, representing Lincoln’s best try to force overtime before the Pats poured on the field.

Pilgrim allowed just one goal in three postseason games, taking down the two top teams in the state en route to its place in school history. It was fitting for Cavanagh to pot the deciding goal, too, as she led Pilgrim with 12 on the season.

While Pilgrim’s top threat notched two game-winners during the playoffs, the opposition had difficulty finding chances for its elites. Throughout their run, the Pats were able to neutralize some of the state’s best scorers, including Chariho’s Olivia Chatowsky, Tiverton’s Ireland McGreavy and Lincoln School’s Isabella Bellini.

The Pats will lose eight seniors in the offseason, including Cavanagh, Brittney and Brianna Boyd, Oliver and Langevin, but a strong core will return. Fontes, Evans, Murphy and Hope Frye will spearhead the crew that will try for a repeat in 2017.

For now, though, Pilgrim will revel in one of the more unlikely postseason campaigns of the fall season.

“I knew we were better than the seventh seed, you just need to show it,” Cavanagh said.

“I really believed in my team,” Fontes said. “We worked so hard to get [here] and it was just amazing. I have no words.”