Tuesday, Oct. 17 – Canton 9, Malone 0
On a cold Tuesday afternoon, the Canton boys varsity soccer team hosted the Malone Huskies for the Bears’ senior night. Canton bested the Huskies by a score of 9-0.
The Bears got off to a slow start allowing for the Huskies to get some early offensive zone time. Canton’s defense especially struggles within the first few minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Huskies, any shots they did get were scooped up by the Bears goaltender or sailed just wide of the net.
However the Golden Bears quickly turned the game around. Senior Forward Ethan Francey scored off a pass from Ryan Jones to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead. With this the Bears set the tone for the remainder of the game.
The Bears and Huskies continued to battle it out, with the Bears possessing the ball a majority of the time. With 27 minutes remaining in the first half, Jones gave a short pass to Francey who gave it right back to Jones for him to get a quick shot off from the 18-yard-line.
The Bears kept the pressure on the Huskies defense and it wasn’t long before Francey got his second of the night. The Huskies goaltender bobbled a bouncing cross in front of his net giving Francey the chance to bury it.
Two minutes later the Bears scored yet another making the score 4-0. Jones controlled a ball out of the air and gave a short pass to Francey who put a good shot on frame.
Jones would end up finishing the half with two more goals, the first being assisted by Caleb Hartmann and the second was unassisted.
The second half the Bears continued to control possession of the ball. Canton’s defense played much better in the second half, keeping the Malone attackers wide of the Bears goal.
The rest of the Bears goals came from Francey assisted by Jones), Alex Thompson assisted by Jacob Rosales, and Matt Tupper assisted by Saverio Sergi.
The Bears concluded a day by honoring their eight seniors. The Bears Seniors include Francey, Jones, Tupper, Jake Bakus, Griffin Scafidi-McGuire, Rosales, Sergi, and Jonney Mclear.
The Bears had 16 shots on net. The Bears goaltender, Jackson Ames had seven saves.
Thursday, Oct. 19 – OFA 2, Canton 1
On Thursday the Canton Golden Bears traveled to Ogdensburg to face off against the Blue Devils. The Golden Bears lost by a score of 2-1 concluding the last game of the regular season.
From the kick-off the game was a battle. Both teams were physical, giving everything they had to gain possession. In the first 10 minutes of the game there were two yellow cards handed out. The first was to Canton and the second was to OFA. The Devils and the Bears went back and forth on offensive zone time.
As the first half went on the Bears had plenty of opportunities to score but oftentimes could not converge on crosses. For the most part the Bears defense did well clearing the ball down the field and keeping it out of the Bears end. However OFA’s defense was able to keep the Bears from getting an open shot on net.
Unfortunately for the Bears the Blue Devils’ striker got a breakaway and placed a nice shot from a difficult angle into the net with seven minutes left in the first. This was the first time the Bears had been down by a goal in a long time. At the end of half time the Blue Devils led the Bears by one.
Just a few minutes into the second half the Bears defense had a breakdown. OFA crossed the ball to a wide open striker in front of the Bears net. Now down by two, the Bears had to start battling back. The Blue Devils placed a defender on Francey and Jones. By doing this the Blue Devils hoped to take away the Bears offensive superpower.
Throughout the second half this strategy was generally effective. The Blue Devils did not prepare for freshman Tommy Husinec however. Husinec played JV up until he was called up for this game. The Bears put lots of pressure on the OFA defense and Husinec scored with 12 minutes left in the second half off a pass from Jones.
The Bears continued to fight to tie the game up. The Bears forward Francey had one of the best opportunities of the game but his shot hit the crossbar. The minutes ticked down and the Blue Devils now share the league title with the Golden Bears. The Bears had seven shots on net and Jackson Ames had three saves.
Canton ended the regular season with a record of 13-1 and will host the Gouverneur Wildcats at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25. The winner of the Canton and Gouverneur game will play at SUNY Potsdam on Saturday against the winner of Salmon River and OFA.
Photos courtesy of Shelly Pike can be found by clicking here.
