South Shore League stalemate: Rockland, East Bridgewater boys soccer teams play to 1-1 tie

ROCKLAND – In practically all rivalry matches, each team wants to grab the win for bragging rights.

Well, Rockland and East Bridgewater will have to wait on that.

The high school boys soccer match on Monday ended in a 1-1 tie between the South Shore League foes.

There were few goals but a few chippy moments in the second half.

“There’s a little bit of a rivalry here with Rockland and EB,” said Rockland coach Dan Kimball, whose team is 8-1-1. “You know they’re doing really well on the large side of the South Shore League, so we knew it was going to be a solid game. They beat Norwell and Cohasset and they’re like the titans of the league.”

According to EB senior captain Zachary Higgins, his team has been playing tough throughout the season. Therefore, the Vikings (6-2-2) expected the physical game.

“We’ve been a chippy team this year,” said Higgins. “(We've gotten) like seven or eight yellow cards. I feel like this is one of our main rivalries, so I didn’t expect it to this extent, but I did expect it.”

“If you asked me before the game how it would be, I’d say just like this,” said East Bridgewater coach Patrick Horgan. “Two hard-working, grind-it-out and gritty teams.”

Rockland took control of the pace in the first half by getting up shots and forcing Vikings’ goalie Anthony Patete to stay busy with three saves in the half.

However, it wasn’t until midway through the half when the Bulldogs finally broke through. Joao Faria dribbled down the right side and shot a dart that hit the goal post. The ball fell a yard away, and freshman Gabriel DaSilva knocked it in for the Bulldogs' one and only score.

“Gabe is our freshman midfielder/striker and finds himself in the right location,” said Kimball. “He’s a very fluid, smooth player. He’s been huge for us this year.”

“I was happy I was able to put it in for our team,” said DaSilva. “I was looking forward to the second half because I thought we started off the game very well.”

A large part of what kept the Vikings off the board in that first half was play from Bulldogs’ goalkeeper Kellen Porter, who finished with eight saves. Although it was the freshman who scored, the defense was led by Rockland’s upperclassmen.

“Kellen Porter is our senior keeper and he’s been fantastic all season,” said Kimball.

“He had big shoes to fill, but he’s stepped up in a big way. We’re pretty young in the back line, but Jake Lucas is our senior captain and Ryan Sullivan is our senior captain that stepped up in a big way as well.”

Five minutes into the second half, EB freshman midfielder Lizie Orson dished it to Higgins to load up a strike from about 12 yards out to tie the game up.

“World-class kid,” Horgan said of Higgins. “Off the field, he’s super involved in the community, involved in student council and STEM clubs, and a super hard worker on and off the field. The goal that he got came off making a 75-yard run to stop them defensively. He earned that.”

The Vikings got four free kicks the rest of the half and had good looks at the net but Porter preserved the 1-1 tie.

“I feel like the first half we controlled, but the second half was a mess,” the Rockland goalkeeper said. “I was just hoping the ball wouldn’t bounce weird; the field is horrible.”

Despite the end result, both coaches were satisfied from what they saw out of their teams.

“The beginning of the game we played our game plan, distributing the ball very well,” Kimball said. “I think this is very positive sign for our defense in a big way to get that draw.”

Horgan also had no complaints, noting, “I was pretty happy with how the boys played."

Horgan also shouted out his senior captains Higgins, Spencer Orofino, Patete and Mathias Floeck. “It was the first time all four of those guys played real good long minutes together and it was really good to see," he said.

Rockland will hit the road to face West Bridgewater on Wednesday while East Bridgewater visits Cohasset on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Chippy game between East Bridgewater and Rockland ends 1-1