Brookline boys soccer dropped to last place in the Bay State Conference Carey Division after a 3-1 loss to defending state champion Natick on Thursday, Oct. 1.
The Warriors fell to 0-2 in conference play and 3-2-3 overall. Natick improved to 2-0-1 in the division and 4-3-1 overall, claiming the top spot in the Carey standings.
Natick's Cole Boggis, a UMass commit, scored twice in the win, according to the Boston Herald. Boggis entered the game on a tear, having recorded a hat trick in a 5-0 win over Weymouth on Sept. 29.
The result confirmed what MassLive's Sept. 24 power rankings had warned. Brookline sat third in the conference at 3-1-3 but had stumbled through a 0-1-2 week. "Things don't get easier with the defending champions Natick up next," the rankings noted.
That proved prophetic.
The loss to Natick is Brookline's second straight in Carey Division play. The Warriors fell 2-1 to Framingham on Sept. 24, when Theo Hibbard scored their lone goal. Between the two conference defeats, Brookline played Newton South to a 0-0 draw on Sept. 29 in a non-conference match.
Despite the winless conference record, Brookline's 3-2-3 overall mark gives the Warriors a .562 winning percentage, tied with Natick for second-best in the division. The gap is entirely in league play, where the Warriors have yet to earn a point.
Here is where the Carey Division stands after Oct. 1 results, according to MassLive's standings page:
- Natick — 2-0-1 conference, 4-3-1 overall
- Framingham — 2-0-2 conference, 4-1-4 overall
- Newton North — 0-0-2 conference, 1-3-3 overall
- Wellesley — 0-2-1 conference, 1-3-2 overall
- Brookline — 0-2 conference, 3-2-3 overall
In other Carey Division action Oct. 1, Wellesley beat Milton 3-2 and Newton North tied Framingham 1-1.
Last season Brookline made a surprise run to the MIAA Division I (MIAA is the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) quarterfinals as the No. 21 seed, finishing on a 7-2-4 stretch. With conference play still early, the Warriors' next Carey Division game will determine whether they can start climbing out of last place.
