These Bulldogs have a few more dogfights ahead of them.

The Old Rochester Regional boys’ soccer team finished its regular season Wednesday, Oct. 26 with a victory over Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical and ending the Bears’ seven-year at-home winning streak.

The 2-1 victory signaled an 11-game winning streak for the Bulldogs (along with a perfect record at home) and a 14-2-2 record, placing them second in the South Coast Conference. Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical was ranked first.

And now, the playoffs.

With the state tournament draw Thursday, Nov. 3, coach Erich Carroll said the goal is to keep the edge and momentum of a wildly successful season going. Sectional games begin Saturday, Nov. 5.

Old Rochester is in Division III of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

“[A winning season] is fun, but it also has a fair amount of stress,” Carroll said. “You have to figure out how to keep that ball rolling. It’s a constant battle.”

Despite early losses to Seekonk and Bourne, the Bulldogs quickly jumped back and held their own the rest of the way.

Carroll, now in his third year as head coach, said this season has been a world of difference from previous ones.

“We’ve started off in some pretty deep holes but clawed our way out just to miss the postseason by a point or two,” Carroll said. “But this year, we returned nine starters and a lot of substitutes that have a lot of experience. And the addition of [coach] John Sullivan is huge. I defer to John to a lot of things.”

Team captain Matt Teefy, a senior at Old Rochester, says a big component to this season has been the cohesiveness of the team.

“A lot of us have been in the program since we were freshmen,” Teefy said. “We can play off each other and know what to expect. But the biggest challenge now is to make it through the state tournament.”

Once sectional finals begin Nov. 12, games are playing nearly every other day until state finals the following weekend.

“Every game will be a battle,” Carroll said. “And it will hopefully be two weeks of constant games. It can wear kids down, but we’re in good shape and positioned as well as we can be for it.

“But there’s no room for letdowns. In the tournament, the team that lets its guard down is the one going home at the end of the day.”

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