The Pilgrim Lady Patriots fell to the East Greenwich Avengers, 4-2, on Tuesday evening. East Greenwich junior Julia Matus led the way, scoring two goals while adding two assists.

Pilgrim’s junior goalkeeper Madison Dowling had nine saves and East Greenwich freshman Rosa Caliri had five.

Pilgrim wore its home white and East Greenwich played in its road black.

Five minutes into the contest, the Pats missed a scoring opportunity when junior defenseman Elizabeth McGowan booted a corner kick in front of the East Greenwich net before junior McKenna Leahy used a header, but missed wide.

After that, East Greenwich sophomore Tori Duke shot from inside the 30 before Zoe Pellegrino fired a bouncer, but both shots were denied by Dowling.

The Pats took a 1-0 advantage with 11:57 to play in the first frame, when junior Jordan Petrucci dribbled down and assisted ahead to freshman striker Lily Brown, who went on a fast break and buried it past Caliri.

Nevertheless, 10 minutes later, East Greenwich’s Matus knotted the game at 1 when she accepted a pass from junior defenseman Tara Horoho and fired it past Dowling.   

East Greenwich had another scoring chance one minute, 20 seconds later, when Skylar Sullivan used a throw-in to heave the ball in front to a wide open Alyssa Gabriel, who missed wide of the mark.

Thirty seconds later, Pilgrim’s Brown passed across to Alyssa Peixinho, and she was denied by Caliri.

With 10:32 remaining in the first half, Sullivan passed across to Matus, who left it for Gabriel and she sniped in a shot from inside the 20, making it 2-1 in favor of East Greenwich.

Then, with under two minutes to play in the first half, Matus collected another assist when she booted a long pass downfield to Chloe Moss, who chipped it in and gave East Greenwich a 3-1 lead heading into the break.

Pats head coach Tom Flanders said that he and his team made some adjustments before they headed back out for the second half.

“Their keeper was playing off her line a lot,” Flanders said. “We were playing into her hands, we were passing the ball down the middle of the field and she was able to collect it easily. So, we had to make some adjustments and that’s why the second half was a lot better. We had more opportunities.”

Less than three minutes into the second half, East Greenwich took a 4-1 lead when Matus tallied her second goal of the game after a corner kick.

Six minutes later, Pilgrim squandered a scoring opportunity when Alexis Vieira, the junior striker, passed up to Giulia Marsella, but the midfielder launched the ball over the goal.

However, with 22:01 left, Marsella came through when she rocketed one in from the 35 and pulled the Pats within 4-2.

The Pats came out more aggressive in the second half and earned more shots on net.

“We definitely had a much better second half,” Flanders said. “We changed the formation a little bit. The little tactical changes that we made, I think helped us a lot. We tried to move the ball quicker off our feet and I thought the second half was really good.”

Despite Pilgrim’s improved play in the second half, it couldn’t cut into its deficit any further.

With the loss, Pilgrim falls to 2-7-2 on the season. The Pats head to La Salle on Friday to take on the Rams at 4 p.m.