Catholic Memorial Falls To BC High, 1-0

The Catholic Memorial soccer team lost 1-0 to Boston College High School on a 67th minute own goal by senior captain and defenseman Pat O'Meara on Friday.

The Knights, who won the Division 1 State Championship in 2009, have still yet to record their first victory this fall.

Playing on a slick field, neither team had found much of an attacking rhythm when BC High sophomore midfielder Andrew Fontaine sent a ball into the attacking end from the left wing. O'Meara stepped up and got a leg on the ball, but it was sent looping over the outstretched arms of Knights' keeper Brandon Hughes to give the Eagles (1-0-3) the winning strike and send their home supporters into celebration.

"The goal was kind of a fluke," said Catholic Memorial coach John Finn. "Theoretically, it was a 0-0 tie. Obviously that doesn't matter, though."

The 0-0 score that held for most of the match better reflected the quality of play. Neither side was able to develop much of anything in possession or in the attacking game and, when challenged, the defenders and keepers were quick to shut down the opposition. Catholic Memorial received particularly strong play from sophomore left defender Todd McDonald, and Hughes was quick to stop BC High's few shots.

But the Knights were unable to put together an attack of their own. Finn played five players between the two striking spots and none of the combinations developed the necessary chemistry to put the team on the board. Catholic Memorial only registered five shots over the course of the match, and the first did not occur until the 28th minute when BC High keeper Kevin Zemaitas easily handled junior Paul Brauer's strike.

The Knights are now 0-2-2 on the young season after winning Massachusetts's Division One State Championship a year ago. Having lost 14 seniors - including highly regarder keeper Conor Atskins and current Duke starter Will Donovan - from the title winning squad, Finn knows his team has some work to do if they want to once more reach such great heights.

"We're a young team," he said. "We're eager to improve and we'll keep working on it."