The Toll Gate field hockey team traveled across town to pick up a 3-0 shutout over rival Pilgrim last week in a non-league matchup.
The two offenses were slow out the gate but the Titans would open things up when Lauren Bastien and Avry Dewar found the back of the cage. The Toll Gate defense was sharp throughout while goalie Abby O’Connor delivered another strong outing. O’Connor and the Titans have allowed just four goals in the past three outings and snapped a three-game skid with the victory.
“It was super important because it was our city rivals, and although it was non-league, we really needed this win,” O’Connor said. “It feels great, they’re our rivals, the Pilgrim coaches teach at Toll Gate, too. It feels great.”
O’Connor tipped her cap to the defenders that helped make her life easy against the Pats.
“Everybody was covering as well. I wish I could say I had a great game, but it really is them, they did an amazing job. Emmy (Wheeler) and Aubrey (Rubeira) go to the outside post and are always behind me. They were amazing today,” said O’Connor.
Taking a more offensive-minded approach also helped the Titans open things up, as they were shut out in back-to-back losses heading into the matchup.
“(Toll Gate coach Jim) Areson always says that we won’t be as exhausted if we play more offense than defense. Everybody isn’t having to sprint around and they can focus on scoring. On defense, you need to sprint back to make sure they can’t score. I think that was huge for our stamina,” O’Connor said.
The win helped Toll Gate improve to 2-4 and in third place in the division. With just a handful of games remaining on the regular season slate, O’Connor and the Titans hoped to rattle off a few wins and climb the standings in time for the postseason.
“We want to get these wins especially against these other teams. There are three other teams that are going to really give us a run for our money, so we need to come back strong,” O’Connor said.
Toll Gate took on Tiverton on Wednesday but the results were unavailable at press time. Pilgrim dropped to 1-10 and squared off against Lincoln on Wednesday as well.
Pilgrim earned its first win of the season on Tuesday when it beat Chariho 1-0. Alayna Bowser accounted for Pilgrim’s lone goal.