Fresh off its first Super Bowl since 1978, Catholic Memorial opened observe for the 2022 MIAA soccer season on Friday afternoon carrying the identical lofty expectations of a season in the past.
While the expertise stands out, so do the sheer quantity the Knights carry. At a time when many applications are seeing participation numbers slide or stagnate, their numbers have exploded. CM has 150 children signed as much as play soccer all through this system.
“Everything that happened last year was great, we enjoyed it and savored it but this is a new year,” head coach John DiBiaso mentioned. “New team with a lot of new kids. There’s new opponents. You’re only as good as your last game.”
Last 12 months, the Knights had been merely unstoppable, by no means trailing within the second half whereas additionally being in a one-possession sport within the third quarter on only one event. This time round, CM figures to be equally as explosive with velocity, athleticism, and physicality throughout the sector.
Senior quarterback JC Petrongolo will shoulder the load of commandeering the offense for a second consecutive season.
Petrongolo may have no scarcity of choices to select from. Boston College commit Datrell Jones and veteran Carson Harwood type a nightmare dual-back combo. Mervens Amazan and Jaedn Skeete are premier outdoors threats.
Four-star Notre Dame commit Boubacar Traore anchors the defensive position.
Brady McGowan, no stranger to the Knights program, shall be an integral half on either side of the ball. Max Tucker is a excessive degree defensive again.
“We’re super excited to get going again. All the guys have been working hard all summer and we’re ready to put all the pieces together,” McGowan mentioned. “Coming off the Super Bowl win, the upperclassman have been preaching to the young guys to not get complacent.”
One highway block for the Knights is an absence of a Week 1 opponent. As a outcome, CM will go into its first sport of the season on September 16 in opposition to Rhode Island energy La Salle with a number of weeks of no competitors.
“It’s a bit of a disadvantage that we’ll be starting the season with a tough opponent with no week one game,” DiBiaso mentioned. “Once our schedule gets going it’s a gauntlet between La Salle and Bishop Hendricken and then the Catholic Conference.”
Catholic Memorial will scrimmage Lowell and Leominster earlier than having a two-week down interval. They begin the common season on Sept. 16.
Source: www.bostonherald.com