Townies Can't Hold Lead and Lose 3-1 to Eagles

Hard work paid off for the Barrington High School boys’ soccer team Monday night in East Providence.

After surrendering an early goal, the Eagles regrouped and out-worked host East Providence High, ultimately posting a 3-1 Division I-East victory over the Townies at Pierce Memorial Stadium.

Sophomore Steve Egglin netted two goals, senior Matt Giron converted a go-ahead penalty kick in the second half, and goalkeeper Andrew Jones rejected 6 shots as the Eagles won their second match in as many starts this season. East Providence dropped to 0-2-1.

Barrington bounced back from a one-goal deficit to tie the contest at 1-1 at halftime, then used Giron’s penalty kick to take the lead for good in the second period. Meanwhile, Jones and a stingy Eagle defense kept the Townies off the scoreboard for the final 65 minutes of the contest and extended their non-losing streak to 23 contests (including last season).

“That was a great game; it was absolutely phenomenal,” Barrington Coach Don Denham said. “It was a big win for us. EP is a playoff-caliber team and we have to rise up and play well against those types of teams.”

Barrington certainly did just that. After Townie Brandon Braga converted a pretty feed from Shawn Bernardo and beat Jones low to the wide side of the net with 25:08 remaining to give the hosts a 1-0 lead, the Eagles took charge, dominating the remainder of the first half in the midfield and pinning EP in its defensive zone the majority of the time.

“We were playing a little lazy to that point and thought we could do whatever we wanted to do,” Denham said. “So we had to wake up and we got that goal back.”

Barrington’s persistence paid off just three minutes later with 22:05 left when Giron drilled a perfect cross to Egglin, who one-timed the ball beyond the dive of Townie keeper Helker DaCosta and into the net to even the count at 1-1.

The second period was very similar to the first chapter when attacks, counter-attacks, rushes and wide open play from end to end. Giron, Steve Egglin, Christian Egglin and Masterson missed on solid scoring bids for the Eagles, while Jones made a point-blank save against Nickki Dorber to preserve the stalemate.

Giron snapped the tie with 13:58 remaining when he easily beat DaCosta on a penalty kick after a Townie was called for a foul in the box. EP misfired on a couple of scoring chances later and paid for it when Steve Egglin made a nice one-on-one move under pressure and rifled a low drive past DaCosta to the wide side of the net to give Barrington a 3-1 advantage.

Jones kept the score stagnant when he robbed Dorber on a diving save in the final two minutes of action.