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History of the Boys Soccer Program


The Canton High School Boys' Varsity Soccer team began in 1984 under head coach Steve Deneno and Peter Scozzari.  After one season,  the reigns were handed over to George Gianaloudis. Gianaloudis built the program into a competitor in the Hockomock League.  The 1985 season saw the first Bulldog on the All-Hockomock League team as defender Chris Conway (class of '86) was honored.  In 1988, the squad qualified for the MIAA state tournament for the first time in its young history. 

1993 saw the coaching duties taken over by Danny Erickson (class of '89)

In that time period the team:

-Advanced to the State Championship game in 2021. 

-won SIX Hockomock League Championships (1997, 2006, 2008, 2009, and the Davenport Division Championship in 2010 and 2011)

-won the Hockomock Classic Cup during its two years in existence in 2010 & 2011

-qualified for 23 State Tournaments

- advanced to the EMASS Championship Game by winning the South Sectional Championship in 2010

-advanced to the Sectional Final three times (2010, 2007 and 2002)

-advanced to the Sectional Semi-Final nine times (1997, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).

 

Coach Gianaloudis with team captains Jamie Goodrich, Jeff Gaboury and Andy Morgan in 1985.

Coach Danny Erickson in 1988

Andy Erickson- '91

Michael Pietro and Michael Devoll- '96

The Streaks:

There have been some unthinkable runs over the years. Here are some of the most impressive:

49 game home unbeaten streak-
4 years and 11 months wihtout a loss at home. 10/18/07 thru 9/10/12....

42 game unbeaten streak against Hockomock League Opponents-
2 years, 11 months and 3 weeks.
9/21/09 thru 9/12/12

12 Straight Wins-
9/16/08-10/28/08

 

Brendan Ryan preparing for shoot-out in 1997

The 1997 Hockomock Championship winning goal celebration

Richie Daniels- '98

Keith Conroy- '98

The Big 3 Deep Tournament Runs

2021
The 2021 team just got better all season long. The team came out of the gates slowly earning a 3-3-1 record before propelling to a regular season mark of 10-4-4.  The tournament run saw the team seeded #21 in the first-ever full-state-wide tournament (no sections).  The team would have to improve on it's 2-3-4 regular season road record if it were to have any tournament success. And that they did. They rolled off 4 consecutive road wins against teams that the program had never faced before.  
Round One- Canton 3, #12 Woburn 1
Round of 16- Canton 4, #5 Agawam 0
Elite 8- Canton 1, #20 Amherst-Pelham 0
Final Four- Canton 2, #1 East Longmeadow 1 (4-2 on PKs)
The Dog's would ultimately fall in the State Championship game, 2-0 at the hands of #6 seeded West Springfield. 

2010
The 2010 side made history in several ways including going undefeated in the regular season and then advancing to the EMASS Final for the first time in program history. The 'dogs were seeded #2 behind fellow undefeated Sandwich. 
A 4-1 first round win over #18 Milton kicked off the tourney run, followed by a 1-0 win over #7 Hopkinton. A 1-0 win over #11 Duxbury in the Sectional Semi marked the Bulldogs' 5th consecutive season in the Semi's. The first ever Sectional Championship came in a dramatic 9 round penalty shootout over #1 Sandwich. 
The run ended in the EMASS final against defending State Champion Concord-Carlisle, 2-0.

2007
After graduating 9 starters from the Hock Championship team, the team posted an impressive 7-5-5 regular season record and qualified for the Tourney with a #12 seed. The tournament starting eleven included- 5 juniors and 3 sophomores.  A 3-1 win over #5 Holliston was followed by a Quarter-final win over a tough #13 Bishop Stang team, 2-1. The team then faced #1, undefeated Medfield and after playing to a 2-2 draw, won a penalty shoot-out to advance to the final. The #10 seeded Sharon Eagles finally stopped the upstart squad in the final, 4-2.

2002
After a disappointing 8-8-2 regular season record, the squad entered the South Sectional Tournament as the #19 seed (out of 21 teams). That's when the fun began. On its way to the Championship game, the underdog Bulldogs ousted #14 seeded Medfield, #6 seeded Somerset, #3 seeded Hingham, and #2 seeded Dighton-Rehoboth, before facing the top-seeded and undefeated Duxbury Dragons. A tremendous first half of play in the Final left the game scoreless at the break. But two quick Duxbury goals in the beginning of the second half proved to be too much for the Bulldogs to recover from.

Brendan Ryan

Andrew MacDonald- '99

Danny Boreham- '02

Best Team Record
(by percentage)

1. 2008- 17-2-1....875%
2. 2010- 17-1-4....864%
3. 1997- 17-3-1....833%
4. 2009- 14-2-4....800%
5. 2006- 13-2-5....775%
6. 2011- 12-2-6...765%
7. 2021- 14-5-4....696%
8. 1990-  10-4-4....667%
9. 1998-  12-6-1....658%
10T. 2017-  10-5-4.....632%
10T. 2018-  10-5-4.....632%

Record by Season since program began in 1984

Year Record  MIAA Tournament Information
1984 4-12-0 Did not qualify
1985 5-9-2 Did not qualify
1986 3-8-5 Did not qualify
1987 6-6-4 Did not qualify
1988 8-5-4 1st round- Lost to Cohasett
1989 9-6-1 Did not qualify
1990 10-4-4

1st round- Defeated Boston Latin

Quarter-Finals- Lost to Framingham

1991 6-8-2 Did not qualify
1992 2-14-0 Did not qualify
1993 7-5-4 Did not qualify
1994 8-6-6

Preliminary Round- Defeated Dighton-Rehobeth

1st round- Lost to Jeremiah Burke HS

1995 3-12-3 Did not qualify
1996 3-12-3 Did not qualify
1997 17-3-1

1st round- Defeated Old Rocherster (SO)

Quarter-Finals- Defeated Oliver Ames

Semi-Finals- Lost to Duxbury

1998 12-6-1

1st Round- Defeated Randolph

Quarter-Finals- Lost to Oliver Ames

1999 9-6-3 Preliminary Round- Lost to Plymouth North
2000 6-6-7

Preliminary Round- Defeated Old Rochester

1st Round- Lost to Duxbury

2001 9-6-5

1st Round- Defeated Diman Vocational (SO)

Quarter-Finals- Lost to Duxbury

2002 12-9-2

Seeded #19...

Preliminary Round- Defeated #14 Medfield

1st Round- Defeated #3 Hingham

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #6 Somerset (SO)

Semi-Finals- Defeated #2 Dighton Rehoboth

Sectional Finals- Lost to #1 Duxbury

2003 9-6-4

Seeded #10

1st Round- Lost to #7 seeded King Phillip

2004 7-10-0 Did not qualify
2005 3-9-5 Did not qualify
2006 13-2-5

Seeded #3

1st Round- Defeated #14 Walpole

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #6 Mefield

Semi-Finals- Lost to #7 Medway

2007 10-6-5

Seeded # 12

1st Round- Defeated #5 Holliston

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #13 Bishop Stang

Semi-Finals- Defeated #1 Medfield (SO)

Sectional Finals- Lost to #10 Sharon

2008 17-2-1

Seeded #1

1st Round- Defeated #17 Sharon

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #9 Walpole

Semi-Finals- Lost to #5 Nauset (SO)

2009 14-2-4

Seeded #3

1st Round- Defeated #14 Bishop Stang

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #6 Hingham

Semi-Finals- Lost to #7 Hopkinton

2010 17-1-4

Seeded #2

1st Round- Defeated #18 Milton

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #7 Hopkinton

Semi-Finals- Defeated #11 Duxbury

Sectional Finals- Defeated #1 Sandwich (SO)

EMASS Finals- Lost to North Champ Concord-Carlise

2011 12-2-6

Seeded #3

1st Round- Defeated #14 seeded Randloph

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #11 seeded Westwood

Semi-Finals- Lost to #2 seeded Hopkinton

2012 12-7-2

Seeded #12

Prelim. Round- Defeated #21 Norwood (SO)

1st Round- Defeated #5 seeded Southeastern Regional 

Quarter-Finals- Defeated #4 Hingham

Semi-Finals- Lost to #1 seeded Medway

2013 9-7-3

Seeded #10

1st Round- Lost to #7 Duxbury 

2014 9-7-2

Seeded#10

1st Round- Lost to #7 Walpole (SO)

2015 3-10-4 Did Not Qualify
2016 8-7-5

Seeded #17

Defeated #16 Bristol-Plymouth in Prelim.

Lost to #1 Nauset in 1st round

2017 10-5-4

Seeded #8

Lost to #9 Foxboro in First Round

2018 10-5-4

Seeded #5

Lost to #12 Dartmouth in First Round

2019 4-12-2 Did Not Qualify
2020 6-3-3 Covid-19 Altered Season. Finished as Semi-Finalist in Hockomock Cup
2021 14-5-4

Seeded #21 in first-ever State-wide Tournament

Defeated #12 seeded Woburn, 3-1 in round 1

Defeated #5 seeded Agawam. 4-0 in Sweet 16

Defeated #20 seeded Amherst-Pelham, 1-0 in Elite 8

Defeated #1 seeded East Longmeadow, 2-1 (4-2 in penalties) in Final Four

Lost to #6 West Springfield, 0-2 in State Championship game. 

2022 9-7-4

Seeded #14 in D2 State-wide Tournamnet

Defeated #19 seeded Nashoba Regional HIgh School, 3-1 in Round 1

Lost to #3 Bedford, 0-2 in Round of 16

2023 3-11-4 Did Not Qualify
2024 6-9-3 Did Not Qualify
TOTALS 444-278-135

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