Boys soccer

Huskies beat Pilgrim in triple overtime, head to D-II championship

Terceiro makes three shootout saves, Tamulaites scores game winner

Photos and story by Richard W. Dionne, Jr.
Posted 11/20/20

The Mt. Hope soccer team is headed for the D-II Championship game after beating Pilgrim 1-1, 3-0, in triple overtime in a semifinal game at Vendituoli Field on Thursday night. Huskies Junior …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Boys soccer

Huskies beat Pilgrim in triple overtime, head to D-II championship

Terceiro makes three shootout saves, Tamulaites scores game winner

Posted

The Mt. Hope soccer team is headed for the D-II Championship game after beating Pilgrim 1-1, 3-0, in triple overtime in a semifinal game at Vendituoli Field on Thursday night. Huskies Junior goalkeeper Matt Terceiro made three shootout saves and Tristan Tamulaites scored the game winner for the second game in a row. Mt. Hope will play East Greenwich in the championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m. on the turf at Johnston Stadium.

“It’s amazing. It’s crazy,” said Terceiro after the game. “I’ve been waiting to do this since I was a little kid. To be able to save three in a row, I just did it for the seniors.”

Terceiro made a huge save with minutes to go in regulation, ranging to his right on a wind fueled Pilgrim direct kick from inside midfield to preserve the tie and came up big stopping all three of Pilgrim’s shots during the shootout. The Junior goalkeeper, one of the Huskies best penalty kickers, booted in the first goal during the shootout. Ben DiChiappari beat Pilgrim goalkeeper AJ Ryan (10 saves) for Mt. Hope’s second goal and Tamulaites blasted in the game winner. Then jogged over picked up the game ball and in a touching move, put his hand on Ryan, who had crumpled to the ground after the last shot went in and said a few comforting words to the crestfallen keeper.

“I’m heartbroken for the Pilgrim kids,” said Huskies head coach Alex Couto, “But, There’s something very special about this team.”

 

Regulation

Tamulaites put the Huskies on the board, heading in a perfect corner kick by Chad Parente to give Mt. Hope a 1-0 lead with 17:34 to go in the first half.

“That was our first set piece goal in the two years that I’ve been here,” said coach Couto. “We work on it every practice.”

The Huskies squandered several chances to add a second goal as they dominated play for most of the game, accumulating 8 corner kicks and 13 shots on goal. Ryan kept Pilgrim in the game, making several big saves.

Pilgrim playing with the wind in the second half, finally got their game together as time ran out on the clock and was kept by the officials on the field. The Patriots had several direct kicks in the final minutes. A yellow card was given to Huskies forward Dylan Brol, who appeared to tangle himself up with Pilgrim’s big defender Jake Petrucci at midfield. Petrucci bombed a kick wide of the Huskies goal. Justin Mendes preserved the lead diving in front of another Pilgrim direct kick, taking the shot off his head, just outside the Huskies box. The sophomore midfielder fell to the ground holding onto his head. Coach Couto came onto the field and walked Mendes back to the bench.

Pilgrim kept the pressure on as the Huskies were desperately trying to cling to their slim 1-0 lead. Tom Nencka and Jesse Wilson made the crucial foul, when they tackled Pilgrim’s Eric Martins on the right side of the box. A direct kick was called and Martins landed it dead center in the middle of the scrum in front of the goal. It bounced in front of Terceiro and Tamulaites and the Huskies made several attempts to kick it out, but it was Pilgrim’s Paulo Frias who got his foot on the ball and he booted it by Terciero with under two minutes to play.

Terceiro came up with several big plays to preserve the tie as time ticked down. Frias had a chance to win the game as he came in alone on the goal, but the fearless Terceiro ran out to meet him and the Patriot forward pushed his shot wide of the goal. The Huskies keeper made another save catching a bomb from midfield.

Ryan also had a big save in the wee minutes of regulation for Pilgrim. Tamulaites lofted a direct kick from 25 yards out as Brol, Jayden Terra and Noah Furtado charged the Patriots goal. Ryan jumped up and grabbed the ball, but it popped out as he fell to the ground. The Huskies frantically tried to kick the ball in, but the keeper quickly secured it to make the save.

 

Overtime

The teams played two scoreless five minute overtime periods and then came the shootout.

“I looked at our keeper and I could tell that he was in it. I said, we’re going to win this,” said coach Couto. “He saved three out of three PK’s. It’s pretty hard to do.”

Tyler Bouressa made the first kick for Pilgrim. Terceiro intuitively ranged to his left and easily knocked down the shot.

The Huskies keeper came out to the penalty kick line, 12 yards out, and placed a kick by Ryan into the right corner of the goal, to give Mt. Hope a 1-1, 1-0 lead. He turned to his fellow teammates lined up at the center line and opened his arms for a distant hug.

Robert Schmitt stood and looked in on Terceiro and then placed his penalty kick towards the left corner, but the quick as a cat Terceiro was there to knock the ball out and make the save.

DiChiappari, a senior, also beat Ryan with a kick to the right corner to give the Huskies a 1-1, 2-0 lead. He pumped his fist in celebration as he ran back to midfield.

Frias took the third kick for Pilgrim and nearly put it by Terceiro, but the keeper dove to his right and punched the ball out for his third straight shootout save.

Tamulaites ran to the box to make the Huskies third kick. The senior came up with his plan as he stood over the ball eyeing Ryan and the goal while adjusting his mask. He placed his kick by Ryan into the left corner of the goal and the Huskies and the crowd cheered. After the goal, Terceiro ran to the stands and held his arms open to the crowd. The team followed him and they celebrated with their families. They were in the championship.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.