The Bulldogs dominated the regular season and Northeast 8 schedule, finishing the regular season record with a 15-2-1 record and are currently riding a 14 game win streak and hopefully many more with their long playoff run.

The Poland Boys Soccer team opened their playoff run with a 9-0 victory against the 1-16 Niles Dragons. The Bulldogs Goalie Michael Daley, sophomore, also has a 9 game shutout streak. 

I spoke with Junior Matt Matiste about last year’s loss to Canfield and how they have to put that loss behind them and focus on this game only.

Matiste says, “Canfield is a very different type of soccer team this year; they are very defensive, and we’re gonna have to come out and put shots on frame and score as many times as we can. . . . Limit the mistakes on defense and limit their attacks.”

 I also asked how their tough out of conference schedule helps prepare them for Canfield.

Matiste states, “It helps prepare us for better athletes and better competition. These games help us prepare for future playoff games as well.”

I also sat down with Bulldogs Senior Carson Maurer to get his thoughts on the game as well. 

Maurer says, “Canfield is a very defensive oriented team, and their defense is solid, but you can go wide on them and move the ball around in the open field and finish on all our scoring opportunities.”

I asked him does the thought of it potentially being your last game with the ten seniors make you nervous at all because you guys have spent your whole life doing this?

He says, “The nerves are ridiculous; I’m really nervous even in school. I can’t stop thinking about it, but that won’t affect the way we play. We’re gonna respect them, but we’re not scared of them, and we’re gonna play our game out on top!”

This undoubtedly will be one of the Bulldogs biggest tests of the year, and they have to come out big and play like a team to win this game. 

Fast Forward 8 hours later, The Bulldogs Beat the Canfield Cardinals 4-0 in a really well fought win. The Bulldogs scores were led by all seniors scoring goals.

Senior Aiden Davis had 2 goals, Senior Noah Huda and Senior Derek Thomas scored a goal. Sophomore Goalie Michael Daley made some enormous saves to deny Canfield of scoring opportunities, and he picked up another shutout as well. Overall, Poland was the better team with better athletes and picked up an enormous revenge win against Canfield. 

The Bulldogs will now face Harvey in the next round of the Playoffs. They have a record of 16-1-1 . They will play on Saturday October 29 at 11 am at a neutral location.  It is a very good team that the Bulldogs will be playing, and they will have to fight hard for the win.