By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – After the Bristol Eastern girls soccer team roped up a quick second half goal against rival Bristol Central on Tuesday afternoon, the Rams needed to make an adjustment offensively.
Not long after the Lancers’ tally, the Rams shifted versatile senior Christina Browne up front and the home team’s offense started to churn.
And while the senior was extremely disruptive on Eastern’s side of the field, Central kicked in two goals within a span of 57 seconds to snare away the Lancers’ edge for good.
Back-to-back goals from Rachel Wygant and Mya Santiago iced the game as the Rams sealed up the CCC South Championship over a 2-1 win from the turf field at BCHS.
Central moved to 9-5-2 overall while Eastern fell to 1-11-3.
Browne, typically found playing along the back line, helped put pressure on Eastern’s defense which opened things up a bit as she bullied the ball around the Kingstreeters’ backline.
“She‘s such a versatile player, as you can see I put her at striker, I put her at center back, I put her in the center-mid position, and she literally does whatever she can for me and always steps up to the level of play,” said Central coach Vicki Malick of Browne. “She changed that game. She just brings a different energy to any position she plays.”
“I’m grateful to have a player like that.”
Eastern was working hard to keep that 1-0 push it tallied with 38:16 left in the showdown but the addition of Browne on offense helped zap the Lancers’ energy in the end.
“You’ve got to tip your cap. She wreaked havoc for the time she was up there,” said Eastern coach Scott Redman of Browne. “Obviously, it changed the momentum of the game. She played great up top.”
There were plenty of chances, early and late, for the Rams over the first forty but the offense just couldn’t find any pay dirt.
The home team won numerous fifty-fifty balls and kept the play over on Eastern’s side of the field for most of the first frame.
Beccy Litwinczyk and Abby Hansen helped lead assaults on the Eastern goal while Wygant came alive over second half play.
But the back line crew, led by Eastern keeper Hailey Beebe, made stops when Central attacked.
Hansen booted an early attempt over the Central goal while the Rams, on its first corner kick of the match with 26:27 left in the period, saw its attempt go haywire.
Eastern’s Cecelia Gilbert drilled a tough shot at Central keeper Maddy Corcoran with 20:05 showing on the clock in the first as the stalemate continued on.
With less than seven minutes before the half, Eastern looked to be advancing on the Central goal but the cross forward skipped out of bounds.
The Rams simply couldn’t find a scoring combination even as Wygant’s attempt was kicked out of bounds with 2:40 left in the first – giving the Rams one more corner kick to attempt.
Wygant’s ensuing kick was on the money but Beebe sprinted out of the goal, making the save as she fell to the turf – keeping things scoreless.
“Hailey did a great job,” said Redman. “Defensively, I was proud tonight. They played a great first half. In the second half, they did really well. They kind of wore down a little bit. We were definitely fatigued at the end. The lack of depth definitely hurt but with that said, I thought they played well overall.”
At the halftime horn, neither team had scored but the action would be fast and furious over the second forty and quickly into final period, Eastern was on the attack off an advancement by Roy via a long direct kick.
She was able to get track down the ball, eluding Corcoran in the process, and when Roy kicked in the game’s first goal with about two minutes gone in the second period of play, the visitors led 1-0.
But Central’s offense continued to fire away as attempts from Wygant and Litwinczyk were just off the mark before the insertion of Browne up front.
GG Pina Ceballos did extremely well off the bench up front as the midfielder helped Central’s offense gel especially over second period play with her sharp advancement of the ball.
“She’s definitely gotten a lot more playing time at the varsity level towards the second half of the season and you can see why,” said Malick of Ceballos. “She brings the ball down, she distributes that ball super well. She can go on somebody one-on-one, cross that ball, put it in the perfect spot for us to finish. She brings a lot to our team.”
Suddenly, with Browne here, there, and everywhere on the pitch, Central notched two impressive scores.
With 16:26 remaining, Ceballos looped the ball to Wygant on the left side of the Eastern goal.
Wygant beat two defenders, spun and jammed in the tying goal to make it a 1-1 game.
Less than a minute later, Central was on the attack again and off a missed shot, Santiago kicked in the scraps for the game-winner as the home squad went ahead 2-1.
“It’s a fire we’ve been looking for,” said Malick of the offensive explosion. “The first half was kind of blah. But after Eastern scored, they sat on it and were like ‘oh no, this is not going to happen.’ And finally, that fire lit up under in them. They’re going after the ball, they’re finishing those shots. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Then it was Central’s turn to hold on with less than 16 minutes to play.
Ceballos nearly found Nicole Reimer for a third tally with 6:51 left but over that final stretch, Eastern’s grouping of Maggie Kozikowski, Kate Patterson, Maria Perrone and Emma Stavens tried to gamely find a goal as time was running out.
A late Eastern cross was cleared with 1:48 left and the Lancers were never able to get off a game-tying shot – falling 2-1 as Central sprinted off the field as CCC South champs for the first time in 14 years.
“We haven’t won it since 2008 so this is massive,” said Malick of the CCC South title. “I’m just so happy to be part of this program.”
CCC South Girls Soccer
BRISTOL CENTRAL 2, BRISTOL EASTERN 1
from Bristol Central’s Turf Field
Halftime: Nada
Scoring 1 2 – F
Bristol Eastern 0 1 – 1
Bristol Central 0 2 – 2
Second Half Goals
*Leah Roy (Bristol Eastern), 41:44
*Rachel Wygant (Bristol Central), 63:34
*Abby Hansen (Bristol Central), 64:31
Records: Bristol Central 9-5-2 overall; Bristol Eastern 1-11-3
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