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Schools

Canton Bulldogs Top Stoughton High Boys Soccer Team

Four first-half goals from Canton the difference in the Bulldogs' 4-0 win at Stoughton.

It was another tough afternoon for the young boys soccer team. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, but instead, it just continues to be a case of playing against more experienced and stronger teams in a Hockomock league that many think is among the top in the state.

On Tuesday afternoon, (5-0-3 overall, 5-0-2 league and 3-0-1 in the Davenport Division) traveled to Stoughton and beat the Black Knights, 4-0, with four unanswered first half goals.

The Bulldogs are among the best teams in the state. Over the last six seasons, they have only lost nine times in 97 games. The team returns most of the lineup from a year ago when it went unbeaten through the regular season, captured its third consecutive Hockomock League title and won the Division-2 South Sectional championship.

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Stoughton (1-7-0 overall and in the Hockomock league and 0-4 in the Davenport Division) has now lost five consecutive games and two straight divisional games (Sharon and Canton) by identical scores of 4-0.

Stoughton did all it could do offensively to penetrate the stifling defense of Canton and senior goaltender Colby Gavigan, to no avail.

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The Bulldogs have only allowed three goals in eight games and have five shutouts. Stoughton could only muster two shots on net throughout the contest. The Black Knights also tried to stop the potent and balanced Canton offensive attack that also exhibits great passing and outstanding speed and movement without the ball.

The Stoughton defense fell short as Canton scored four goals by four different players.

“When you play very strong teams it takes a very strong effort and confidence for ninety minutes, and you can’t come into the game being hesitant,” Stoughton Coach Matt Bernstein said.

“Soon as we settled down, we found out that we could play with them, but it was too late.”

Canton got its first goal just seven minutes into the game when sophomore Eric Wong scored his first goal of the season on an assist from junior Michael Denehy. Thirteen minutes later, Denehy again had an assist, on senior tri-captain Scott Levy’s fourth goal of the season.

Senior tri-captain Chris Murray got his fourth goal of the season, to go with three assists. Murray scored the goal off of a penalty kick, with just over three minutes left before halftime. Canton’s final goal came about a minute later by senior Matt Malloy. It was Malloy’s second goal of the season and it was unassisted.

“Allowing two goals in the final minutes before halftime really hurt us and put the game out of reach, but it was good to see how hard we played in the second half,” Bernstein said.

Stoughton senior goaltender Michael Vulakh had another strong performance and kept the score respectable in the first half. Senior forward Gabriel Garcia and sophomore forward Christopher Rego helped to improve the offense in the second half, but Canton’s depth, defense and sustained offensive pressure didn’t falter.

“We got a good performance from our starters, but also our bench players came in and really played well,” Canton Coach Danny Erickson said.

“We have a lot of balance on offense and it makes us very tough to defend. Stoughton did put some pressure on us in the second half and actually were hungrier than us, but we still seemed to remain in control.”

Stoughton will next be in action on Monday, at home, against King Philip. Canton will next host non-league foe Westport on Saturday night.

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