Tiverton Girls' Soccer Team Rallies 3-2 Over Mt. Hope [VIDEO]

Samantha Welchman’s goal early in the second half Wednesday night lifted the girls’ soccer team to an emotional 3-2 Division II-Central victory over Mount Hope Regional High School of Bristol on the Tigers’ home turf.

Welchman’s second goal of the contest came with 26:24 to play and enabled Tiverton to improve its season record to 2-0-1 and climb into first place in the Division II-Central standings. The Huskies fell to 2-2.

Tori Fryzel also drilled a goal for Tiverton and keeper Haley Higginbottom recorded 11 saves. Christie Ribeiro collected both goals for Mount Hope and netminder Vivian Ramos notched 12 saves.

Welchman’s tie-breaking score capped a gutty performance by Tiverton, which was outplayed for most of the night by Mount Hope’s physical and talented front line of Ribeiro, Brooke Pacheco and Felicia Vieira. The Huskies constantly applied pressure on the Tigers’ defense, but Higginbottom, Erin Rodrigues, Jackie Wilson and Rebecca Mauricio combined to keep the guests off the scoreboard during the final 64 minutes-plus of the contest.

“I thought our kids played extremely well in a very physical game,” said Tiverton Coach Joe Gill. “I think we fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the first half when they scored their two goals, but the kids didn’t panic and we made a few adjustments.”

“It was a great game and we knew it would be a tough game because we’re divisional rivals,” said Mount Hope Assistant Coach Kerri Ferreira. “I thought our team controlled the second half, we had some great passing and combination play, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

After the teams battled to a 2-2 draw at halftime, the Tigers were awarded a free kick in the Husky zone after one player on each squad was handed a yellow card. Welchman pounced on the deflected kick and popped a shot over Ramos’s reach which landed in the back of the net for the game-winning tally with 26:24 left in the match.

Neither team scored the rest of the way, but action remained fast, furious and wide-open. Higginbottom made key saves on Ribeiro, Pacheco, Catherine Lopes and Vieira; stopped two corner kicks by roaming far from the net; and received help from Wilson and Rodrigues, who both cleared dangerous loose balls in front of the net.

“Haley saved us and the defense really came up big,” Gill said.

In an eventful first half, Tiverton took a 1-0 lead with 29:10 to go when Ramos was victimized by a bad bounce on a long shot and Welchman alertly pounced on the ball and booted into the open net. Ribeiro then scored twice for Mount Hope within a span of three minutes when she twice beat two defenders and Higginbottom with perfectly placed shots into the wide side of the goal to give the Huskies a 2-1 advantage at the 24:29 mark.

Both teams misfired on solid scoring chances during the ensuing 23 minutes before Fryzel hammered in a rebound with 1:40 to play to produce a 2-2 deadlock at intermission.

The Tigers and Huskies resume their Division II-Central schedules Friday at home. Mount Hope will host East Providence High School at 5:30 p.m., while Tiverton will entertain North Providence High School at 7 p.m.

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