By BOB ROTH

By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CANFIELD -- For Canfield High athletes, just playing the Poland in any sport is enough motivation.
But throw in senior night, a battle for first place in the Metro Athletic Conference and the fact that the Poland boys soccer team was a 3-1 winner against Canfield on Sept. 11, and the competitive juices really flow.
Tuesday at Canfield Stadium, the juices were sizzling on both sides of the field, and a lightning-quick goal in the box by Dave Piersante at the 32:23 mark of the second half put Canfield ahead for keeps in the Cardinals' 4-2 victory.
Matt Pietro assisted on the goal that gave Canfield a 3-2 lead.
Piersante and Pietro among the 12 seniors on the Canfield team, which is 10-3 on the season and 7-2 in conference play. Thursday's game at Howland will be a battle for the MAC's top spot.
1-2 in MAC scoring
Piersante and Pietro are one-two in MAC scoring as they have combined for 27 goals.
"This was a most important game of this season for us," Pietro said.
Pietro, a first-team All-District and All-Conference selection who also was an All-State choice as a junior, displayed his kicking power with two long range goals.
The first was a 30-yard bullet on a free kick that broke a scoreless tie.
The second one was a 25-yard boot that came with 17:27 remaining in the first half, to give Canfield a 2-1 lead.
Pietro's goals were his conference-leading 14th and 15th of the season.
Insurance goal
Seniors defender Dan Freed-Pastor scored a big insurance goal with a 15-yard boot with 29:13 remaining. Two other upperclassmen -- Mark Bezy, a scrambler on offense and Andrew Havas, a hustling defender -- were instrumental to the victory.
Cards freshman goalkeeper Andrew Turocy made eight saves.
Canfield coach Phil Simone is happy with his team's progress this season.
"When we lost to Poland in September, we needed to win the rest of our games to win the league, and Thursday's game at Howland is for that title, so we have definitely come a long way," Simone said. "Tonight, both teams played well in a usual all out Poland-Canfield war."
Booth ties it twice
Poland battled back for most of the game with top scorer junior P.J. Booth answering Pietro's goals to tie the contest twice.
Booth banged a ball home in the box off a free kick in the first half, and did the same in close in the second half off a ricocheted boot, for his sixth and seventh goals of the season.
The Bulldogs (7-6, 5-4) took 11 shots on goal to 14 for Canfield.
Poland senior goalkeeper John Aldan, who has four shutouts, made 10 saves.