King Philip Girls' Soccer Upsets Hopedale

There may of been a couple of close calls and some shots that floated just above the crossbar of the King Philip goal, but the Warriors walked away with an 1-0 upset win over a Hopedale Blue Raiders team that came into the match with only two losses.

“They (Hopedale) had a lot of chances, they really controlled the second half big time and I think it’s because of our youthfulness on our team that we backed up and decided to play an even more defensive game than what we wanted,” King Philip head coach Gary Pichel said. “We were lucky that they overshot our net several times, otherwise it’s a different story.”

The Warriors improve to 4-5-1 with wins coming in three out of their last four matches.

After a pair of near misses from Hopedale, Rachel Patten pushed her way though a pair of Blue Raiders’ defenders for the lone goal of the day at the 16th minute of play.

“Rachel is as quick as they come and she was able to beat her defender and get a good shot on net,” Pichel said.

Sending more attackers towards the goal, Hopedale forced the Warriors to spend most of the second half defending a Hopedale offense that would not let up.

Malorie Knowlton almost gave the Warriors a two goal lead but the shot from the corner of the 18-yard box floated just wide of the goal.

With the Blue Raiders threatening, KP goalie Emma Piscitelli came up big a few times to preserve the lead. After a shot from the far right floated over her in the 62nd minute, Piscitelli quickly covered the ball before a blue shirt could jam it in for the tying goal.

Later in the 76th minute, a save at near point blank range by Piscitelli kept a frustrated Hopedale scoreless as most shots in the second half either found it’s way into the KP keeper’s hands or flew over the net for a Warrior's goal kick.

With seconds remaining, a final shot by Hopedale's Jessica Messier was easily saved by Piscitelli to give King Philip the win and a clean sheet.

The Warriors will look to continue their hot streak on Wednesday, October 10 when they travel to Foxborough for a 3:30 p.m. match.