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.