Men's Soccer Closes out Successful Season

Charlotte Catholic’s varsity men's soccer team enjoyed a successful 2024 season. Although sophomore centerback Owen Rief believes the team has only just met their expectations for the year, any observer can look at their 20-5 (10-2 in-conference) record and conclude that the team has almost certainly exceeded expectations. 

At the start of the season Owen felt that the team had “improved a lot” since last year,  “because [the] senior class is much stronger compared to last year’s.” 

According to Owen, the most challenging opponent of the regular season was Garinger. As the number one team in the conference, they defeated Catholic 4-3 when the teams first met this season. Since that loss, Catholic adapted and continued to play better and better. When the team faced Garinger a second time, Catholic returned the favor by defeating them 4-2. 

The entire team agreed that their new toughest opponent was West Forsyth, whom they played in the second round of the state playoffs. Going into the game, West Forsyth was among the top ten teams in the nation and the number one seed in the NCHSAA playoffs, but found themselves taking a loss to the Cougars with a final score of 2-1. 

Following their win over West Forsyth, the Cougars continued to dominate the playoffs, defeating Hough and South Mecklenburg. They finally fell in the state semifinals to the 6th ranked team in the state, the Marvin Ridge Mavericks. 

Although the team came up short of their ultimate goal of a state championship, their season was one to remember. The team grew together throughout the year, and never lost hope, even when facing some of the best teams in the state. 

When asked to look forward all the way to next season, Owen stated that he is “optimistic, but the team will face a lot of adversity with the loss of important seniors.” With this being said, Owen is excited for next year, and for the opportunity to continue to improve individually, and to end next season even better than they did this year by winning the state title.