BARRINGTON — Sometimes an opponent just has your number and for the Mt. Hope High School girls' soccer team in 2024 that certainly was the case when the Huskies played their rival Barrington.

Three times Mt. Hope and the Eagles met this fall and on all three occasions Barrington prevailed, including Tuesday night, Oct. 29, in the preliminary round of the Division I state championship tournament.

On their own Victory Field, the Eagles shutout the Huskies by a somewhat misleading 5-0 score. The hosts scored the only goal of the first half, in which the visitors were the side on the front foot throughout, then broke the game open by scoring for more times in the final 25 minutes of play.

Seventh-seeded Barrington improved to 7-7-4 overall and advanced to the main draw of the D-I playoffs where the Eagles were slated to face second-seeded La Salle in the quarterfinals on the road in Providence November 1.

For 10th-seeded Mt. Hope, which a year ago reached the state championship final before falling to Cumberland, its 2024 campaign came to a close with a 7-10 overall mark. That record included a 4-3 setback to the Eagles in Barrington on September 11 and a 4-0 shutout loss to the visitors October 3 in Bristol on the Mt. Hope campus.

There's no denying Barrington eventually proved to be the better side at the end of 80 minutes last Tuesday night, though the Huskies certainly had their opportunities to make it a much closer game if not actually play from in front. However, much in the way the fall transpired for Mt. Hope, things didn't go as planned for the visitors.

The Huskies were thwarted by their own inability to capitalize on a number of potential quality scoring chances in the first half, especially in the first 10 minutes of the contest. As well, they were undone by a couple of untimely defensive lapses, which allowed the hosts to get into the flow of the game and score the opening goal.

Credit initially went to Barrington junior goalkeeper Faith Van Ness, who made a few saves and came off her line aggressively to handle possibly troubling shots into the Eagles' 18-yard box.

Credit later went to midfielder Bailey Duncan. The senior made the Huskies pay for their first egregious defensive transgression in the 15th minute of play. Duncan settled a seemingly harmless ball about 20 yards, spritely split two Mt. Hope defenders then beat keeper Emily Moran to score the game's first goal.

Though trailing, the visitors remained viable for the rest of the opening period and nearly found the equalizer in the 21st minute off a corner kick only to be denied by the frame.

Kendra Ascoli restarted play with a knowing pooch into the box which Mt. Hope's top scorer Thea Jackson ran onto. The star junior put a firm header on target, but off the base of the far post. The ball spun from harm's way where Van Ness fielded it to end the threat.

The Huskies had a couple of other chances before intermission, obviously coming away empty on both. The last of a handful of seeking feeds from Jackson attempting to set striker Sarah Nencka free between the Barrington backline did not materialize in the 35th minute. And a 38th minute free kick from distance didn't lead to a shot.

The game later turned in Barrington's favor for good in the 54th minute when the Eagles used some clean, one-touch passing to break down the Mt. Hope backline for a second time. Olivia Morrissette was the beneficiary of the pass, potting the second goal of the night for the hosts.

Four minutes later, the 60th of the game, Barrington broke it open when Duncan netted her second of the event. Two minutes later, Lena Pilipski made it 4-0 Eagles. And in the 72nd, Makenzie Lema capped the win with her tally.

— East Bay Media Group and eastbayri.com contributing photographer Julie Furtado shot the accompanying gallery of photos.