NORTH EASTON, Mass. – The ball seemed to be stuck at the far end of the field for the entirety of the fourth quarter, but then, with just seconds remaining and out of nowhere, Oliver Ames broke away. Erin Cottam went on a lung-bursting surge down the left channel, carrying the ball from deep in her own half to the edge of the Canton circle. Her angled pass across the face of goal was inches away from being turned inside the post by freshman Kayla Kenney.
It was almost the perfect smash-and-grab by the Tigers, nearly stealing the win and two points right at the death.
Canton held a 13-1 edge in corners and put 13 shots on frame in Wednesday night’s visit to Muscato Stadium, but OA goalie Olivia O’Rourke kept the Bulldogs at bay. She made 12 saves, including three impressive stops in the final quarter, to help the Tigers hold on for a 1-1 tie.
“She’s been a solid rock this entire season,” first-year OA coach Alex Sylvia said of O’Rourke. “Anytime we were worried about the game or knew we had a tough game coming up, I knew she’d be a rock in net. Every time we got it out of the circle, I said play for Liv because she’s playing out of her mind right now so you need to play for Liv and match her intensity.”
For Canton coach Chrissy O’Connor, her team’s performance was good, but it was a case of missed opportunities for the Bulldogs that put them in a position where they nearly were left going home with nothing.
“How many missed opportunities can you have?” she asked. “I was happy with how they played overall, clearly we dominated, but at the end of the day you’ve got to put one of those corners in.”
The visitors came storming out of the gates, forcing O’Rourke into three saves inside the opening two minutes. Ellie Bohane created the best look off an early corner, firing a pass to Audrey Koen, who had a shot stopped. The rebound popped out to the other side of the goal, but O’Rourke got across to block that attempt, and recovered her balance to kick aside a shot from Bohane in the middle.
Six minutes in, another Canton corner was played to the edge of the circle by Izzy Digirolamo. Maggie McCready blocked the ball to tee up Bohane for a blast, but again the OA goalie was equal to the chance.
After being on its heels for the first portion of the quarter, OA started to control play in the midfield and pinned the Bulldogs back. Cottam was the creator of the hosts’ best chance of the first, firing a pass to winger Julia Maclaine, who forced Carolyn Durand (four saves) into her first stop of the night.
The second quarter was all Canton. O’Rourke was forced into five saves in that period alone. Bohane had another rip off a corner that O’Rourke showed her athleticism to get a toe to then Bohane opened play up on the right for Koen to have a go with a quick turn and shot. A corner gave Bohane yet another chance to put one on net and McCready was denied on the rebound as well.
Two minutes before halftime, Carolyn Schiavo made a good run down the right side and passed it across the crease to McCready, but the tip went wide of the post. Just after the break, Isabel Cusack would create an opening with a run on the left wing, but no one could get a piece of her pass fired across the face of the goal.
Midway through the third, the deadlock was broken and then almost instantly the game was tied, as the teams split a pair of goals in just 16 seconds.
OA was having some joy playing in transition and using its speed on the ball to run at the Canton back line. Maclaine was one of the main outlets for the Tigers and her run on the right wing would lead to the opener. She cut the ball back into the middle and, after a slight deflection, Megan Crabtree smashed a first-time shot inside the post to make it 1-0.
“[Julia] and Megan Crabtree have been working great together this season and I keep telling Julia to bring it up the side,” Sylvia said. About her team’s speed in transition, she added, “Once we get in that transition, I have every faith that the ball is going in the circle just because once they connect there’s no stopping them.”
Straight from the restart, Canton was back on the attack. Schiavo, the freshman attacker, went on a run at the OA back line, weaving her way through the middle and onto her forehand. Instead of looking for a teammate, she coolly picked the bottom corner to bring the Bulldogs level.
“Which means we can do [score], we’d just like to do it more often,” said O’Connor with a chuckle.
Things were far more back-and-forth in the third. Maclaine continued to be a thorn in Canton’s side. She made another long run and played the ball back to Crabtree, who knocked it on for Tyla Delamere at the far post but she couldn’t get the final touch. Maclaine also forced Durand into a save with a long shot from the right. Koen had a good chance for Canton late in the quarter after she managed to separate herself from her marker, but the shot was wide.
In the fourth, Canton got back in control of the game. The Bulldogs had six corners in the fourth. McCready was denied by a sprawling save from O’Rourke. Koen tried to cross to Cusack at the back post, but she was just missed getting a stick on it.
Schiavo played a nice pass back to Bohane in the middle of the circle but she was unable to beat O’Rourke, who also made a nice slide to her right to deny Bohane off a corner.
All those chances without a goal for Canton and OA nearly pulled out the unlikely win with its only chance of the quarter.
“This is the type of game you’re going to see in the tournament,” O’Connor said. “So for us it was a good eye-opener. This was a great game for us to see what we need to do to get ready for the tournament.”
Sylvia added, “This game, we need to take it and learn from our mistakes. We gave up way too many corners today, so we have to learn from that so we’re ready for Foxboro [next week].”
Oliver Ames (8-5-2) travels to Sharon on Monday in its penultimate league game of the season. Canton (11-3-1) can’t catch Foxboro for the division title, but the Bulldogs will try to have the Warriors their first loss of the season when they play Monday at WWII Veterans Memorial Field.
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