Girls’ soccer team stays hot with two more wins

Although the goals continue to be scarce, the Canton High girls’ soccer team just keeps on winning — improving to 6-1-3 with road victories last week over Stoughton and Taunton.

Senior captain Kim McNally (Mike Barucci photo)

The Bulldogs have now gone unbeaten over their last eight contests and enter play this week just a point shy of Oliver Ames for first place in the Davenport Division with eight games remaining.

The one area where they still need to improve is scoring, as the girls put up exactly two goals in both games last week and have now done so in seven straight, despite the fact that they have owned possession in many of those games.

“The shots have been there,” acknowledged head coach Kate Howarth, “but we don’t need more shots. We have plenty of shots; we need to finish them.”

Howarth said the Bulldogs dominated the ball against Stoughton and probably should have had “four or five goals,” but they settled for a pair from promising freshman Hannah Link.

“She’s a very dangerous forward because she’s just relentless,” Howarth said of Link. “She works hard and always tries to get herself in good position.”

The other bright spot offensively for Canton was senior Kim McNally, who scored both goals against Taunton and continues to lead the team in that department by a wide margin.

Howarth said the girls played arguably their best possession game of the season against the Tigers, although Taunton still managed to make a game of it by scoring on one of its few chances.

Fortunately, McNally was able to seal the win with a go-ahead goal in the second half, and Howarth continues to see signs that an offensive breakout is imminent.

“If we were having trouble possessing, I’d be more concerned,” she said. “We’re actually creating a lot of opportunities for ourselves. Now we just have to finish them.”

“That’s the final step,” she added. “And once we do that, we’ll be such a dangerous team. We’ll be great.”

The Bulldogs will have plenty of chances to find their scoring rhythm this week with three games in five days: home versus King Philip on Monday, at Mansfield Wednesday, and home tomorrow, October 11, against Milford.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 10 2013. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.