Boys’ soccer captures 2nd straight Hock Classic Cup
By Jay Turner
In a season that featured too many draws that could have easily been wins, the Canton High boys’ soccer team found redemption last week in the regular season finale, capturing its second straight Hockomock Classic Cup with a convincing 2-0 victory over Kelly-Rex Division champion Franklin at home.
The win last Tuesday served as a much-needed confidence boost coming off a 3-1 loss to Silver Lake — the team’s first regular season defeat in more than two seasons. It also extended the Bulldogs’ unbeaten streak against Hockomock opponents to an unprecedented 39 games, during which time they have gone 29-0-10, including a 9-0-5 mark in 2011.
One of their five ties came against Franklin early last month, and it wasn’t pretty as the Panthers came back from a 2-0 deficit to salvage the draw.
This time, the Bulldogs once again built a 2-0 lead, but they refused to yield even an inch of possession in a game that they dominated from start to finish.
“[Franklin] really didn’t threaten our goal much at all,” said head coach Danny Erickson, pointing to the strong play of senior midfielders Matt Malloy and Chris Murray and senior back Dave Feeney.
And in a fitting end to the regular season, senior Scott Levy scored both goals to give him a team-best 10 for the year — a remarkable accomplishment for a player who spent the past three seasons anchoring the Bulldogs’ backfield.
Senior goalkeeper Colby Gavigan also ended the season on a high note, making three saves to record his 12th shutout in 16 games.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way our guys played,” said Erickson, whose team also grabbed the No. 3 seed in the Division 2 south sectional tournament.
The Bulldogs, who come in as the reigning south champs, were set to kick things off earlier this week with a first-round matchup against No. 14 Randolph. Whichever team wins that game would then take on either No. 6 Scituate or No. 11 Westwood in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
Update: Canton defeated Westwood 3-2 on Wednesday to advance to the south sectional semifinals. The Bulldogs will face No. 2 Hopkinton (17-2-1) on Friday at 2 p.m. at Bridgewater-Raynham High School.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=9429
Posted by Jay Turner
on Nov 9 2011. Filed under High School, Sports.
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