Boys soccer coach celebrates 300th career win

The Canton boys earned win No. 300 for head coach Danny Erickson (above left) thanks to a game-winning goal by freshman Luis Garcia (above right) in last Thursday’s game versus Attleboro. Photos by Mike Tureski photos

A well-executed game plan, a thrilling finish, and a major milestone win for veteran head coach Danny Erickson all added up to one very special evening for the Canton High boys soccer team last Thursday at Memorial Field.

Matched up with the Attleboro Bombardiers and eager to get back on track after a 5-0 setback in their previous game against Mansfield, the Bulldogs had made some system adjustments and were trying them out in a game setting for the first time. Erickson had also challenged his players to sharpen their execution on set pieces — both on offense and defense — and the boys responded accordingly, scoring on both a free kick and a corner to eke out an important league win.

The victory was the Bulldogs’ third in their last four games and pushed them back up to .500 at 3-3-0 overall. It also placed Erickson, the program’s leader since 1993, in some very exclusive company as one of a handful of CHS coaches to reach the 300-win mark for their careers.

“I think it’s a really cool club to be in alongside some other great coaches like Brian Shuman (boys hockey) and Pat Cawley (volleyball),” Erickson said after the game. “I also think it’s a great thing for the program. For me, it serves as a reminder of how lucky I’ve been to be able to do something that’s a heck of a lot of fun for a very long time.”

Erickson also had the pleasure of sharing the experience with his son, junior Luke Erickson, who’s emerged as a key contributor in the midfield for the Bulldogs.

Also carving out a role in the midfield rotation are several promising underclassmen, and two of them — sophomore Vlad Pankevych and freshman Luis Garcia — had a chance to be heroes against the Bombardiers, with both notching their first career goals.

Pankevych struck first about 15 minutes into the game, knocking home a rebound off a free kick by Sam Siegal to even the score at 1-1.

While both teams had their chances from there, the score would remain that way until the waning moments of the contest, when Garcia rose up to head the ball into the net off a corner kick from junior Nate Rivera.

It was a clutch play by the freshman at exactly the right time, and it sealed the victory for the Bulldogs on a night that saw several Canton players step up in key spots. That includes goalie Declan Clifford and the entire backfield group, who held up against a flurry of late chances by the Bombardiers.

“We just weathered the storm,” Erickson told HockomockSports after the game. “I’m really proud of our guys’ effort.”

The key moving forward, according to Erickson, is consistency, which is something he said the team has lacked through the first few weeks of the season.

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve had some really good performances and some really poor performances,” he said. “But we’re going to continue to try and grow from each one of our games, win or lose, and I expect we will do that and I think we’ll see some pretty good soccer from here on out.”

An important goal for the team is getting back to the playoffs, which they managed to do a season ago after missing out the previous two years.

While the roster is young, they certainly have an experienced leader in Erickson, who has guided the Bulldogs to the tournament 23 times in his career, including a stretch of 20 appearances from 1997 to 2018. They have since made it back three more times since COVID, highlighted by a memorable run to the Division 2 state title game in the 2021 season.

For his career, Erickson has compiled an overall record of 300-216-119, but the most important game, he said, is always the next one, starting with a home match this Saturday night against nonleague Duxbury.

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