This past Friday, the boys’ soccer team travelled to B-CC where they defeated the Barons 2-1 in a hard fought “battle of Bethesda.”

The Cats began the game strongly, pressing hard and not letting anything by on defense. Despite threatening offensive attempts, the Cats were unable to break down B-CC’s defensive line, with the first half ending 0-0. The beginning of the second half was much of the same, until B-CC opened scoring with a header off of a long throw-in.

The Cats were able to equalize not long after as a result of impressive link up play between senior captain Nico Cornejo and junior Hunter Parler. Cornejo initiated the attack out of the midfield by playing Parler down the right sideline. Parler then returned the ball to Cornejo before being flicked on past his defender. This one-two left Parler with open space past his defender, allowing him to loft a threatening ball into the Barons 18-yard box. The move came to a poetic end as Cornejo headed Parler’s cross past the keeper to give the Cats a late equalizer.

The Cats capitalized on their newfound momentum, constantly threatening the Barons’ backline before senior Alessandro Galdzicki was eventually able to score a left footed strike from just inside the 18 that proved to be decisive.

“We fought well as a team, defensively we were compact and on the chances we did have we scored them,” Galdzicki said . “I think we could be a bit more defensively solid on our set pieces.”

The boys’ most recent contest, against the Churchill Bulldogs, did not provide the same result. The Cats lost 2-0 in their return to home; the first game where they were unable to score a goal. The Bulldogs were gifted a fortunate goal in the first minutes of the game that put them in charge early. With their lead, the Bulldogs began to “park the bus,” keeping the majority of their team between their goal and the ball for the rest of the half. Despite their defensive minded tactics, Churchill didn’t let up offensively, scoring their second goal right before halftime. The Cats continued to try and break through the Bulldog’s defensive line, but nothing seemed to work.

“We need to clean up our technical skills. We need to be more focused and avoid stupid mistakes.” said senior Quincy Hunter-Williams. “I think we are all going to want to bounce back really strong. I’m hoping we can go out (this weekend) and get a win.”

Following these two games, the Cats are now 4-3, and despite their losses, the team has proved they have what it takes to compete with any opponent in the region. The boys’ next game this upcoming Saturday, Oct. 4, against Blake will not be easy, but the team is confident in their ability to win.