Aysha Bentick and Rhode Island recorded their first win in school history vs. Boston College on Sunday. Photo from gorhody.com.
Rhode Island Women’s Soccer earned their first victory of the season on Sunday, winning 3-2 in overtime in the first win against Boston College in program history.
“Obviously, it’s a huge win,” Head Coach Megan Jessee said. “It’s a win that, quite frankly, we’ve been building towards.”
Sunday’s game was full of drama, especially late in the second half. Laila Rosenthal scored the opening goal for the University of Rhode Island in the 71st minute, the first of her career. That tied the game at one-all, and the Eagles thought they had the winner when Nye Day scored in the 85th minute for the home team. However, with only 1:22 left in regulation, Haley Pignatelli found the back of the net for the second time this season, sending the match past regulation.
Rhody walked away victorious thanks to a game-winning goal in overtime by Brooke Cavino, her first of the year and the fourth of her career. After leading the team in scoring last season, she was finally able to get on the board after battling injuries throughout the year.
The early part of the season has been a stretch for the Rams to rediscover their identity following their season being delayed to the spring. After a couple ties and a tough 1-0 loss to La Salle on March 18, Rhody was able to get back into the win column for the first time since October of 2019.
One area the Rams were strong in against BC on Sunday was their attack. After taking just seven shots against La Salle and only scoring one goal all season until Sunday’s game, URI was able to double their shots and score three goals against the Eagles.
“That’s just the hardest thing to ultimately figure out as a team,” Jessee said on her team finding their rhythm on offense. “We’ve been close in many games, and we’ve created chances, but just couldn’t finish. I think it was just a matter of finishing on some of those chances.”
Jessee continued to stress the importance of seeing goal-scoring opportunities not only get created, but also finished off.
“There’s no doubt we had created more chances than any other game,” she said about the game on Sunday. “They have a little extra confidence going into our next game, that not only are we creating chances but that we are also finishing them.”
This season is an important one for the program’s future, as the majority of the team is made up of younger players. Eighteen of the 27 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores, and many having gained valuable experience dating back to last season.
“Our younger players are huge,” Jessee said. “They’ve been stepping up.”
The Rams will face the Fordham Rams in their next matchup on Thursday afternoon before opening up their home slate of games at the URI Soccer Complex. They’ll face off against UMass in Kingston, with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m.