Red-hot captains help CHS boys soccer nab 2 more W’s

Senior captain Bart O’Brien had 5 points in 2 games last week. (Mike Barucci photo)

Powered by their two red-hot senior captains and with help from a strong supporting cast, the CHS boys varsity soccer team made it a perfect three for three to open the season with victories last week over Mansfield and King Philip.

Including their season-opening win against North Attleboro, the Bulldogs have now taken down three of the Hockomock’s five large school (Kelley-Rex) opponents and head into this week’s divisional matches with plenty of momentum on their side.

They also appear to have two superstars in the making in Damian Kozak and Bart O’Brien, who have both exploded out of the gate with six points apiece and eight goals combined — an unprecedented early showing, according to head coach Danny Erickson.

“I don’t think after three games I’ve ever had two guys with six points each,” said Erickson, who’s now in his 22^nd year at the helm. “Those are some pretty impressive statistics for boys soccer.”

In last Tuesday’s 2-1 road win against Mansfield, O’Brien got the scoring started early in the second half, putting home a rebound off a blast from Kozak. A few minutes later it was Kozak’s turn as he combined with junior Joe Basile to put the Bulldogs up 2-0.

The Hornets turned up the pressure over the remainder of the half and managed to convert one of their chances to make it a one-goal game. However, the Canton defenders were able to weather the storm, led by Danny Klein, Georgio Papakonstantino, and senior goalkeeper Aidan Carr, who made a great save on a penalty kick with 12 minutes remaining to help preserve the Bulldog advantage.

Overall, Erickson characterized the Mansfield win as a solid, although hardly mistake-free showing. “It’s always nice to be able to learn lessons from mistakes while you’re winning,” he said, “because we made a lot of mistakes in trying to close out the North Attleboro game, and we made lot of mistakes in trying to hold a 2-0 lead in Mansfield. So it’s nice to be able to learn some lessons that will hopefully help us down the road.”

And the Bulldogs may very well prove to be fast learners, as they went out just a few days later and dominated the visiting King Philip Warriors by a final score of 4-0.

The hosts took advantage of a KP mistake to take an early 1-0 lead, but the real fireworks came after halftime as Canton scored three straight to put the game out of reach.

Leading the offensive assault was O’Brien, who had a monster performance with two goals and two assists. Kozak also had a big game with a goal and an assist, while Basile added his first goal of the season on a heads-up play in the box.

Erickson said all three players have been huge for the team offensively, adding that Basile in particular has been a real pleasant surprise thus far.

“[Basile] has really thrown himself onto the scene this week,” he said. “He’s been important in all three games coming off the bench and has been involved in four of our nine goals.”

Meanwhile, Erickson said the defense also deserves a lot of praise for Friday night’s win as they “made a pretty good attacking team look very ordinary.”

The backfield trio of Klein, Papakonstantino, and junior Pat Hession were especially impressive, and Carr looked sharp in goal as he notched his first career shutout.

Erickson said the win against KP represented a big step in the right direction and shows the kind of damage that the Bulldogs can inflict when they’re playing to their full potential.

“We’ve now been up in every game,” he said. “In the first two, we faltered but held on. This time, we played an opponent that I think was a step up from the other two, and we didn’t allow them to get back into the game.”

Erickson said the team’s 3-0 start should serve as a nice confidence booster as they open a crucial stretch of five straight games against Davenport Division teams. Three of those games were scheduled for this week: Monday at Foxboro, Wednesday at home against defending champion Oliver Ames, and Saturday night at home against this year’s consensus favorite, the undefeated Milford Hawks.

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