The senior-laden Bulldogs went into the season with expectations that this could finally be the year to break Foxboro's league dominance, but it was not until Kurt Leavitt's double-overtime winner on April 24 against the Warriors that those expectations were beginning to be fulfilled.
For HockomockSports.com, Josh Perry wrote:
Ten minutes after the final goal was scored, the Bulldogs were still celebrating on their home field. The Canton coaches asked that the final score be posted back on the scoreboard so they could take a commemorative photo to remember the moment. It was obvious what this victory meant to the program.
For the first time since 2007, the Canton Bulldogs pulled out a victory against perennial Hockomock League champions Foxboro. Senior midfielder Kurt Leavitt scored in double overtime for the Bulldogs to pull out a come from behind 7-6 victory that keeps Canton unbeaten and puts them on top of the Davenport division.
“I think in 2008, we lost two one-goal games to them and it really hasn’t been close since,” said Canton head coach Bill Bendell. “We needed a statement win and this was it for us.”
He added, “We kept saying that if they stick together and keep playing lacrosse, then we’ll be ok. Hopefully this will help us build this program long term.”
It was a moment frozen in time. The members of the Canton boys' lacrosse team crouched underneath the scoreboard at Memorial Field for a picture in the late afternoon of last Thursday. Even though the junior varsity game was about to begin, the scoreboard remained unchanged from the previous one. The Bulldogs had just beaten Hockomock League rival Foxborough for the first time since the 2007 season -- in double overtime, nonetheless -- and they were content to savor it.
"This is a banner win for us," head coach Bill Bendell said following the Bulldogs' momentous win, their first against the Warriors in 12 tries . "In 2008, we lost a couple of one-goal games to them, but since then it hasn't been close."
He isn't kidding, too. The memories of some of the absolute drubbings Foxborough doled out against Canton remain fresh. Canton's seniors had registered an oh-fer in six games against the Warriors entering last week. The average margin of victory in those Foxborough games was more than nine goals per. "Pretty slaughtered" was how senior attack Pat Ward described the previous encounters.
But even after a psyche-shifting victory the Bulldogs have kept rolling. After Wednesday's 10-5 win over King Philip, Canton improved to 9-0. It's the longest such unbeaten streak in program history and, as a result -- for a program which has enjoyed just one winning season in its last eight -- the Bulldogs are rapidly approaching their record for wins in a season this millennium (12, in 2011).
“We haven’t won the league or anything, and there’s a long road ahead of us," said senior Kurt Leavitt, who scored the overtime game-winner against Foxborough, "but it’s definitely something to build off.”
The season came to a close in the D3 semifinal with a 14-8 loss to the top seed Cohasset, Matt Noonan of BostonLax.net with the recap:
“We couldn’t get possession of the ball,” said Canton coach Bill Bendell, who guided the Bulldogs to their first semifinal in program history. “They did a great job offensively and being patient and wearing you down and we played great defense and we’d finally make a save and they ride us very hard and we lose possession, so we couldn’t get the ball on the offensive end.
“I think it was more that our defense was tired, so our zone wasn’t has effective and also we couldn’t play as much as it because we’re losing the game.”
Galvin recorded the first goal once the second half commenced, but Cohasset padded its lead with back-to-back tallies on man-up by Mills and Kissick.
“We sort of just kept going for it and kept pushing on and just getting as many goals as we could,” said Kissick.
Canton trimmed the 12-4 deficit once the fourth commenced with four goals – two from Matt Lennon and one each from Kurt Leavittand JC Marcone – before Cohasset answered with two more tallies to seal the win.
Ward, Lennon and Ben O’Neil paced Canton with two goals, respectively, while Ben Lodge recorded 13 saves.
One of the reasons for the program's advancement was the play of senior attacker Pat Ward, who was named the inaugural HockomockSports.com Player of the Year.
The senior attack netted a team-high 67 goals, almost double the next highest total on the team, and added 10 assists for a total of 77 points in his senior campaign.
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