Competitive as always

Rocks build 2-0 lead then hold off valiant Canton rally on both teams' Senior Night

  Mo Pourmandi has played in enough Canton-Salem soccer matches to know that the 2-0 first-half lead the Rocks chiseled Saturday night was far less secure than a Brink's truck.
  "We knew they were a great team and that they had what it took to come back," Pourmandi admitted. "Once they got that first goal, it was anybody's game."
  Thanks to some brilliant mid-field play from Pourmandi and fellow mid-fielders Lachlan Savage and Dan Martin, the Rocks held on to a 2-1 "Senior Night" victory before a spirited crowd at the PCEP varsity soccer pitch.
  "We've been looking forward to this game for two or three weeks," continued Pourmandi, who assisted on Alex Tramel's eventual game-winning goal. "Hopefully, we can use this to start a good run for the rest of the season."
  The victory improved Salem's record to 6-2-2 heading into a full slate of games next week.
  "There's always so much energy and adrenaline in this game," said Salem coach Ed McCarthy. "I was pleased to see that we were still able to play smart even with all the emotional stuff. My parting comments to the team tonight focused on the fact that we made good decisions late in the game when it could have gone either way."
  Canton, which slipped to 5-2-2, pieced together an epic second-half effort after receiving a large dose of inspiration from coach George Tomasso during the halftime break.
  "We made two mistakes in the first half and Salem capitalized on both of them," said Tomasso. "During my halftime message, I tried to re-focus the guys. I tried to remind them why they're out here and why they play this game.
  "They played a lot better in the second half. We kind of took our time out there for granted in the first half, but in the second half, there was a 30-minute stretch where we were winning the little battles."
  The Rocks scored first with 24:27 left in the first half when Dan Martin banged the ball into the back of the net after receiving a perfect pass from Alex Tramel.
"That was a huge goal," McCarthy said, "because it got both teams more into the game at that point. The pace of the game really picked up after that. Usually, whichever teams scores the first goal in Salem-Canton matches wins.
  Salem doubled its lead with 1:38 left in the first half when Pourmandi threaded a turf-skimming pass to Tramel, who one-timed it into the top-right shelf of the net past a diving Kai Walther.
"That was a perfectly placed shot by Tramel," said McCarthy. "Overall, he played an outstanding game. He made very good decisions and was very dangerous all night. He held the ball at the right times tonight and was very dangerous on one-v-ones. I was very proud of Alex tonight."
  Canton received an injection of hope with 32:22 to play when sophomore Connor Furgason juked a defender deep on the left wing, dribbled twice, then rifled a clothesline past diving Salem goalie Sasa Miskovic.
"That was just a great individual effort on Connor's part," Tomasso said. "He's an outstanding defender and he does a great job of organizing our back-line.
  "When he pushes the ball up, like he did tonight, he's a real threat to score. He's scored three goals this season just like the one he had tonight. Beating a fantastic goalie like Sasa is rare, but that's something Connor is capable of doing."
  Furgason's goal was assisted by Bobby Budlong, who was a force at both ends of the field Saturday night.

Ed Wright can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 453-1980.