Boys’ soccer snaps losing skid with 2 big wins

Sophomore midfielder Damian Kozak helped lead the Bulldogs past Sharon last week. (Mike Barucci photo)

Facing a make-or-break week after falling below .500 with three straight losses, the Canton High boys’ soccer team responded with two critical victories last Monday and Friday at home — a 2-1 thriller over Sharon and a 4-1 win over Foxboro.

For head coach Danny Erickson, it was about as good of a week as one could hope for, as the Bulldogs not only snapped out of their early season funk, but they did so while getting contributions from players up and down the roster.

“It was a great week, a huge week for us,” said Erickson. “We found ourselves heading into the week with a losing record, and to come out of it with a winning record (4-3), you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Erickson was particularly impressed with the win against the Eagles, who went into Monday’s contest unbeaten at 4-0-1 and appeared headed for yet another victory after a strong start in the opening half.

But after falling behind 1-0 in the first 15 minutes of play, Canton battled back and eventually stole the momentum, tying the game at 1-1 just before halftime on a well-executed penalty shot by Michael Denehy. The second half was similarly well played, with both squads trading shots until finally, with only three minutes left in the game, sophomore Bart O’Brien buried home the rebound off a Sam Larson shot attempt, sending the Bulldogs to a 2-1 win.

It was the second time this year that O’Brien has won a game with a last-minute goal — an impressive achievement for the talented underclassmen.

At the same time, it wasn’t simply O’Brien’s kick that downed the Eagles, as the Bulldogs got excellent performances from several players, including Denehy, Larson and Eric Wong, as well as midfielders Damian Kozak and Matt Lennon.

Lennon, one of the team’s three senior captains, also had an outstanding game against Foxboro later in the week as he finished with a team-high two goals to help lead the Bulldogs past the lowly Warriors at Memorial Field.

The first half was played in the rain, and the soccer suffered as a result, with Foxboro’s own goal accounting for the only offense of the period. The second half was at least more productive as Canton scored three straight goals while Foxboro added a late goal of its own to make it a 4-1 final.

Erickson characterized his team’s performance as sloppy and uneven, although he will happily take the win against a fellow division opponent.

“Strangely enough,” he said, “we’ve played some great soccer this year and haven’t been able to score timely goals, and on Friday we played probably some of our worst soccer and were able to score some goals.”

Denehy was among the bright spots for the Bulldogs, scoring an impressive breakaway goal while also causing the own goal in the first half. O’Brien chipped in with an assist on one of Lennon’s two goals, while the defense made some nice plays behind sophomore Aidan Carr and senior Brian McCabe.

Now just one point behind Sharon in the Davenport Division standings, the Bulldogs were hoping to add to their win total this week with road games against Stoughton on Monday and Taunton on Wednesday, followed by a home date with King Philip this afternoon at 3 p.m.

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