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Sports

Stoughton High Boys' Soccer Looking to Bounce Back After Opening Loss to Foxboro

The Black Knights fell 2-1 Monday afternoon at Foxboro, but will have the chance to bounce back Tuesday at Franklin.

Playing with composure and an excellent possession game, Foxboro was able to get by the Stoughton High boys’ soccer team, 2-1, in both team’s season openers Monday in Foxboro.

The Warriors wasted little time getting on the board. Taking advantage of a ball booted by Foxboro goalkeeper Nick Adair, Sawyer Fleck scored the opening goal with a shot over Stoughton goalkeeper Michael Vulakh from the top of the box in the fifth minute.

But, the lead was short lived as the Black Knights came right back. Looking for a quick equalizer, Steve Depina found the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 during the eighth minute of play.

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“It was a good equalizer. It made the game back to an even playing field, which it should have been at to begin with,” Stoughton coach Matt Bernstein said .

Controlling possession of the ball and playing physical, Foxboro seemed to have no problem getting offensive opportunities. The only problem was finishing those chances.

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“We played physical. We attacked a lot. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish a lot of our attacks,” Foxboro coach Pat Nash said.

However, the Warriors were able to finish off one attack to take the lead during the 64th minute of play. Ben Carleton was able to get the header off a corner kick from Fleck to take a 2-1 lead and give Foxborough another hard earned goal.

“That last one was a nice hard finish, crashing the net. The other [goal] you don’t see too often when a goalie gets an assist,” Nash said.

The Warriors continued to attack for the final 16 minutes of action. The aggressive style of play put Stoughton in a position where they couldn’t find the net or gain possession for very long.

“We never felt comfortable on the attack," Bernstein said. "It is a very physical game and they disrupted our play. They were very physical but that’s what the league is.”

While Foxborough celebrated their season opener with a win, Stoughton was forced to look back and figure out how to increase their offense and produce more scoring.

“It's what we need. More goals. We need to score and we need to keep going at it,” Bernstein said.

Stoughton starts the season 0-1. The Black Knights are looking to improve upon last year’s 2-12-3 record.

In 2010 Stoughton started 2-1, but went winless the rest of the season.

“After we started off well we went up against higher quality teams [and it] put us down and we never quite recovered,” Bernstein said.

This year his goal is to see his team do a better job bouncing back following a loss to a strong team.

As Bernstein alluded to following the Foxboro loss to kick off the 2011 season, he also wants to see a greater balance between offensive and defensive play, with a greater emphasis on attacking the opposition on the offensive end.

On the field, Stoughton will be led by their three senior captains—Zack Finer (defender), Gabe Garcia (defender/midfielder) and Vulakh in net—players Bernstein calls the “backbone” of the team.

Vulakh was fighting injuries last season, but Bernstein said “this year he is healthy and looking strong and ready to go.”

Depina, a senior striker, and Mike Gallagher, a sophomore midfielder, will also be key contributors to the team, Bernstein said.

“Each member of the team has an important role on the team, and has a job they need to do to get the wins we need,” Bernstein said.

He said the players have “great attitudes” and there is a definite sense of team camaraderie.

Up next, the Black Knights will travel to Franklin on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.

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