Staff photo / Preston Byers. Canfield’s Brady Casey celebrates after scoring the lone goal in the Cardinals’ win vs. Poland on Thursday at Dave Pavlansky Field

POLAND — On the brink of the postseason, it would have been understandable for either Poland or Canfield to take Monday’s match a little easier than usual. After all, being as rested and healthy as possible is an attractive proposition for any squad about to embark on what they hope is a long playoff run.

There was little consideration for that, though, before and certainly during the ‘Battle of 224’, which went in favor of the Cardinals 1-0 and in the process delivered the Bulldogs their first loss of the year.

Although both head coaches said they gave a modicum of thought to the general health of their teams heading into the playoffs, they each admitted that they could not pass up on the chance to beat an area rival and test their respective teams before the postseason.

“Poland-Canfield’s always a battle, they’re undefeated, we’ve got two losses, no one wants to give up those bragging rights. So we didn’t go-go at them, but we didn’t hold back either,” Canfield head coach Phil Simone said.

Unfortunately for Poland, Canfield went at them just enough Monday.

The Bulldogs, who entered with 12 wins, no losses and four ties, had little control of the ball and even fewer chances at the net in the first half while Canfield, albeit with relatively limited opportunities as well, more often put pressure on Bulldogs goalkeeper Zach Marantis.

The pressure reached its peak with just over a minute left in the half, when Brady Casey weaved through a host of Poland defenders, into the box and zipped a shot past Marantis in the bottom right corner of the net.

“I thought we started a little slow,” Poland coach Brian Garcar said. “I thought we gained our footing a little bit near the end of the first half, and then unfortunately, we let up that goal that I think was preventable on our part.”

The goal would stand as the only one in the first half and the entire match.

It was far from the only chance, however, as both teams began to play increasingly more aggressive as the game went on, each threatening with promising attacks and simultaneously opening up themselves to counterattacks.

For Poland, though, the mad dash to the finish made perfect sense; without a goal in the final 40 minutes, its unbeaten record would be spoiled in the final match of the regular season.

Although unable to crack Canfield’s defense for much of the first 30 minutes of the second half, the Bulldogs had a few looks in the final 10, including a hard-hit free kick by Xander Thornton with fewer than four minutes to play. The kick, much to the chagrin of the home crowd, hooked left of the post.

The shot proved to be the final legitimate chance at tying the match for Poland, which finished the regular season with a mark of 12-1-4.

“You gotta play for 80 minutes, that’s the first thing,” Garcar said of the lessons he hopes his team learns from the loss. “We started a little slow and let Canfield kind of dictate the tempo, and it took us a while for us to kinda get our footing back and our feet underneath us. … This was an opportunity for us to gauge going right into where we are tournament-wise. Some good, some bad, but hopefully, the loss motivates the guys and drives a little fire underneath them.”

Canfield, which won the All-American Conference on Saturday by defeating Warren G. Harding, is 13-2-0 heading into the postseason. The Cardinals will host either Holy Name or Akron Garfield Community Learning Center — their match was not final at print deadline — on Saturday in a Division III, Northeast 3 sectional final.

The Bulldogs will begin their playoff run Wednesday, when they host Conneaut in a Division IV, Northeast 3 sectional final at Dave Pavlansky Field.