On Thursday, October 29, The Bears took on an away game against Salmon River for the sectional semifinals. They lost after an intense match that saw two overtime periods and eight rounds of penalty shots to decide the winner. The Bears played hard the entire game and went down fighting.
Canton opened up the scoring very quickly as senior Griffin Coakley sent a shot from inside the box to the upper-left corner just 34 seconds into the game. Assists came from Will McDonough and Wyatt Francey who set up the goal. The goal immediately established the momentum the Bears would carry early in the game.
The Bears played hard in the defensive end as well within the first half. Rightback Andrew Downing made a crucial tackle in the 4th minute to shut down the Shamrock drive towards the net. Goalkeeper Sean McCluskey made a point-blank save and covered up the rebound on the goal line in the 16th minute with pressure bearing down on Canton’s defense. Senior Aaron Rosales stuck with the speedy Salmon River forwards all half and contested their ball control.
The Bears moved the ball throughout the half to create chances such as a shot from junior Jackson Zebedee and multiple drives up field by midfielder Simone Leonardelli. Despite early dominance, the momentum of the game began to swing in Salmon RIver’s favor in the later minutes of the 1st half but the game remained 1-0 going into halftime.
The game remained evenly matched through the start of the 2nd half. Canton tried to double their lead with offensive plays such as a run through traffic upfield by Will Andes. It would be Salmon River who would score the first goal of the 2nd half in the 52nd minute when a forward dribbled through Canton’s defense and slid the finishing shot into the lower-left corner making it a 1-1 game
The Bears were not deterred by this and instead upped the intensity. Coakley fired many shots at net throughout the remainder of the 2nd half including one hitting off of the crossbar and out. Canton scored late in the 2nd half with just five minutes remaining when Andes bursted through the Salmon River defense, received a pass from Coakley, and completed the play by scoring and taking back Canton’s lead.
The Bears couldn’t close out Salmon RIver as they scored with just nine seconds left in play. A Shamrock forward dribbled inside and took a shot outside the box while being swarmed by defenders. He perfectly placed the shot in the opposite top-right corner which sent the game into overtime
The first ten minute overtime period was relatively even with a scoring chance coming from Coakley but the tie remained. The second overtime period was more of the same. McCluskey charged out to knock a ball away, preventing a Shamrock breakaway. More chances for the Bears came but with no goal for either side in overtime, the game was sent into penalty shots.
The first round of penalty shots saw five shots for each side to crown a winner. After both teams scored four of their five shots, the game came down to sudden death penalty shots. Both teams scored their first two goals of sudden death. The Shamrocks scored their third goal while Salmon River made the save to win them the intense game
The Shamrocks used this win to secure their spot in the Section Championship while the Bears were eliminated. The game marked the end of the season for the Bears and the final game of Coach Caufield’s remarkable coaching career as well as the final game for the seniors who will graduate after this school year.