Knights' Scoring Struggles Continue Against Durfee

The Catholic Memorial Knights lost to Fall River's Durfee High School 2-1 at home on Monday night, extending a season-long scoring slump.

The Knights (2-5-2) - Massachusetts's defending Division I State Champions - have now scored just 10 times in nine games this season. Durfee collected two first half goals and the Knights did not record their own until junior striker Terrence Rooney scored in the final minute of play.

CM head coach John Finn wasn't shy about identifying his team's weakness after the match.

"We just need to find someone to consistently put the ball in the net," he said.

CM had a handful of scoring opportunities but could not capitalize. On two separate occasions, once in each half, the Knights had beaten Durfee senior keeper Dan Pelletier and saw a wide open net, but the Durfee backline was quick to respond, deflecting the weak scoring bids along the goal line.

"If we start scoring on our opportunities, we'll look good down the road," Finn said.

The Hilltoppers collected their first goal in the 11th minute when senior striker Antonio Monteiro sent the ball towards Knights senior captain Nick Leney. Leney's touch proved too hard, however, and bounced back to Monteiro. With CM keeper Brendan Hughes caught out of position, Monteiro sent a low, hard strike to the back right corner to make the score 1-0.

"We had some bad luck in the first half," Finn said. "Those misplays put us in a bad spot early on."

Durfee sophomore center midfielder Pedro Fernandez collected the game's second goal in stoppage time of the first half. Hughes was unable to collect the ball when it was volleyed before him for several touches before Fernandez finished the sequence in front of the net.

The Knights showed attacking urgency in the final 10 minutes as senior midfielders Asa Dixon and Ryland Foster-Gerbach, whose aggressive play drew a 55th minute yellow card, controlled the pace of play and Rooney buried junior striker Henry Jean-Claude's set-up to help the Knights avoid being shutout for the second time this season. But it was too little too late for the CM attack.

"We were maybe just 10 minutes short," Finn said.

The Knights have 10 games remaining on their schedule and fight an uphill battle to defend last year's title in the state tournament. They next play Wednesday at St. John's Prep.