Tigers Pull Away In Second Half to Defeat Mount 3-0 [VIDEO]

A second-half surge lifted the girls’ soccer team to a critical Ocean State Summer Cup victory Tuesday night at .

After being held to a scoreless deadlock during the first 40 minutes of play, the Tigers erupted for three second-half goals and blanked Mt. St. Charles Academy of Woonsocket, 3-0, to solidify their hold on first place in the Girls’ High School Division II standings. The victory also assured Tiverton of no worse than a second-place finish in the divisional standings and a berth in the championship playoffs later this month.

Samantha Welchman, Regan Burke and MacKenzie Mello found the back of the net for the Tigers and netminders Elizabeth Janick and Haley Higginbottom combined for eight saves as the Tigers improved to 5-0 this summer, with two road matches (at Exeter-West Greenwich Regional High School and at Ponaganset Regional High School) remaining on their regular-season schedule.

“We didn’t pass the ball well in the first half; we were just kicking it all over the field, so we changed our formation in the second half,” said Tiverton Coach Mike Janick. “We switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-4-3 to give us an extra attacker and it opened up the middle of the field for us.”

That and a healthy bench of eight reserves, who gave Janick numerous opportunities to rest his players, in stark contrast to the Mounties, who played with just one reserve all night. After controlling play for most of the first period, the Mounties looked visibly tired in the second session and generated few viable scoring opportunities.

The Tigers were also bolstered in the second half by the addition of four key performers – Higginbottom, Welchman, Maya Bergandy and Olivia Bergandy – who fulfilled summer basketball obligations in time to spend most of the final 40 minutes on the pitch.

“Having these girls gave us fresh legs and more help defensively,” Coach Janick said.

The first half was largely dominated by Mount with a patient attack which produced a distinctive advantage in possession time, but few solid scoring bids. While Janick was forced to make three vital stops, Tiverton – despite erratic play offensively – actually enjoyed a 5-1 edge in corner kicks and manufactured the best scoring chance of the period when a rebound shot struck the Mounties’ crossbar, but remained in play, forging a 0-0 stalemate at the break.

Before being replaced in net early in the second period by Higginbottom, Janick made her best save of the contest eight minutes into the session when she snared a point-blank shot from just 15 feet out. Three minutes later, Tiverton finally broke through when Welchman controlled a long pass from Erica Farias and beat two Mountie defenders and its goalie on a brilliant one-on-one move to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Just seven minutes later, Burke gained control of the rebound of an Allison Benevides shot and beat the Mountie netminder to the wide side to give her squad a 2-0 lead. Late in the period, Mello redirected a blocked shot into the net (assisted by Farias and Olivia Bergandy) to complete the scoring.

Tiverton also received stellar performances from Tori Fryzel, Rachel Mauricio, Rebecca Mauricio, Erin Rodrigues, Brook Hawkins, Jackie Wilson and Miranda Pacheco.

“We didn’t play our style in the first half, but we did much better in the second half,” Coach Janick said. “We’re coming along.”

And the playoffs are not far away.

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