By Mike Rego
EAST PROVIDENCE — Visiting North Kingstown rallied from three goals down to finish its Division I boys' soccer contest with host East Providence in a draw Wednesday night, Oct. 5, at the Bayside FC field in city.
The tie was the second for both sides to date. The Skippers saw their record move to 3-3-2 and with 11 points in the league standings. The Townies saw their mark move to 2-4-2 and with 8 points in the D-I ranks. The draw also snapped a recent two-game losing skid for the locals.
East Providence built a seemingly commanding and comfortable 3-0 lead by the latter stages of the first half. After a Skippers foul in the box, Leandro Frias drilled a penalty kick for the Townies' first goal. Nathan Bento made it 2-0 locals when he punched home a rebound. And Zach Pangborn connected on a free kick to up the lead to 3-0.
But the Skippers got on the board with at about the 35 minute mark to cut their deficit to 3-1 at intermission. North Kingstown then scored its next mid-way through the second half then netted the tying goal in the 68th minute.
"I thought we played well in the first half, but we gave up a bad goal with five minutes to play," EPHS head coach Tony Vieira said. "After the second goal we stopped playing our style and allowed N.K. to dictate play. Credit to N.K. They were the better team in the second half. They fought to the final whistle and deserve the point."
East Providence hadn't earned a point in its last two outings, losing to both Shea and South Kingstown by the same 3-0 score. The Townies are back in action for a rare weekend morning contest when they travel to Portsmouth Saturday, Oct. 8, for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
— Photos by Tim Marshall