MALDEN — Despite a remarkable defensive effort from the Malden Catholic soccer team, the Lancers fell 2-1 to St. John’s Prep in a Catholic Conference game Wednesday night at Brother Gilbert Stadium.
The Eagles were led by goals from Ethan Ambrosh and Gabriel Najim. Zachary Davis also had an assist for St. John’s Prep.
“Malden Catholic played great tonight,” St. John’s Prep coach Dave Crowell said. “That’s the best team they have had in a while. They worked hard, they moved the ball well and they were well organized. They gave us more of a game than we thought they would.”
The Eagles were on the offensive for most of the night but left several goals on the field due to missed scoring opportunities.
“I don’t think we were mentally prepared to play tonight,” Crowell said. “We have BC High in a big game Saturday and I think maybe we were looking by this one a little bit and it showed. But they hung in there and they played well. We had some guys missing to injury, I’m sure they did too, and that played a part.”
Matthew Soucy scored the lone goal for the Lancers, finding the back of the net with a few minutes left to give Malden Catholic a final chance to tie the game.
“The kids played out of control today,” Malden Catholic coach Scott Elias said. “They played strong soccer and we had a strong defensive front all-around.
“I was really impressed with the defense,” Elias added. “Will Driscoll, one of our defenders, had an outstanding game. Robert Mccabe held the backfield strong, I just thought we played a great game.”
The Eagles had plenty of scoring chances before finding the back of the net in the first half. With around five minutes to play in the first half Ambrosh had a breakaway chance but lost possession of the ball before getting a shot on goal.
Less than a minute later Ambrosh found another opportunity in the box, this time ripping a shot to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 before half time.
In the second half, St. John’s Prep once again beat Malden Catholic in the possession game but could not score until the closing minutes. Davis carried the ball into the box and sent a nice pass to Najim who finished the play to boost the Eagles’ edge to 2-0 with 5:12 remaining in the game.
The Lancers weren’t ready to quit as Soucy won a chase for a loose ball in front of the Eagles’ goal and scored to cut the St. John’s lead to 2-1. Malden Catholic gained some momentum after the goal, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback as the Lancers fell to 1-4 on the year.
“We knew the Prep was a great team coming in,” Elias said. “We have had some tough breaks lately, but the team finally rose up and played as a team. They did some nice stuff on the field.
“We move on to play Catholic Memorial Saturday,” Elias added. “I expect us to really improve in the next couple of games and win some. We have had a couple injuries and some stuff going on so hopefully when we go back to full strength we can turn around and get where we need to get.”
St. John’s Prep improves to 5-1, 3-0 in conference play. The Eagles host BC High Saturday morning (10) for a crucial Catholic Conference tilt.
“Both teams are 3-0 in conference games,” Crowell said. “Whoever wins that game goes a long way in determining who wins the conference.”
