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Canfield bounces back to give South Range its first defeat
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
After dropping a 4-0 decision to All-American Conference rival Howland on Tuesday, the Canfield Cardinals needed a bounce game in order to regain the momentum they had finally built over the past three weeks of play.
Going up against last year’s Division III state runner-up South Range, a team that had allowed just three total goals while breezing through their first 10 games unscathed, was the challenge Cardinals head coach Phil Simone wanted.
Goals by Tanor English and Justin Montazeri, and outstanding goal play by Jad Saleh lifted the Cardinals to 2-0 win over the Raiders on Thursday night at Canfield Stadium’s Bob Dove Field.
It was the first setback for South Range (10-1), a team that entered play having outscored opponents 74-3 while recording seven shutouts behind the stalwart play of goalie Luke Schaeffer.
“South Range is an excellent team and we really needed this game after being shut out by Howland on Tuesday,” English said. “Playing on their side of the field was important because it then became our offensive game. On my goal, I saw their goalie off the line, shot it and it just happened to sail into the top left part of the net. This win was big for many reasons, but the big reason is that it gets us back on the winning track with play-offs upcoming.”
The goal was English’s seventh of the season and gave Canfield (7-4-1) a 1-0 advantage heading to intermission.
With 2:07 remaining in the contest, Montazeri added an insurance marker that gave the Cardinals a 2-0 cushion.
The goal was also his seventh of the year.
“I heard my teammates calling for the ball, but felt like I had a better shot so I took it,” Montazeri added. “I had the open look and was able to bury it to the left of their goalie.”
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven outings.
It was also the sixth shutout of the campaign for Saleh.
The loss was the Raiders’ first shutout of the campaign as well while the Cardinals nearly notched as many goals in one outing (two) as South Range had given up all season (three).
“Our defense was absolutely outstanding tonight. Brandon Youngs is a tremendous offensive presence, so shutting him down was our goal, knowing that he wasn’t going to pass the ball as much,” Saleh said. “We were able to keep him uncomfortable during some crucial moments.”
With South Range ranked eighth in the most recent Division III weekly poll, Simone felt that his team needed to be tested after Tuesday’s league loss to the Tigers.
“This was a big week for us. We were a little down knowing that the loss to Howland cost us a chance at the conference title,” Simone said. “Taking on a state-ranked team, one that was undefeated, and bouncing back like we did was great to see. We pretty much lost our entire back line due to graduation so from the beginning of the season to now, we’ve made great strides. We’ve become a tighter unit, the players know their roles and most importantly, we’ve gotten better as the season has progressed.”
First-year Raiders head coach Mike Bailey wants his team to face the best competition from the area as they head into the home stretch of their schedule.
“We learned a lot about who we are tonight and I am proud of the way that our guys played. We took huge steps tonight,” Bailey said. “We played a quality team, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way. We have big goals for our program and just continue battling in order to advance those goals.”