Despite holding the nation’s top-ranked team to just one goal, the Wildcats’ boys’ soccer team was unable to find the back of the net, and a late goal on a controversial no-call allowed the Montverde Academy Eagles to top West Shore 1-0.

“We could have taken more chances,” senior Ryan Robidoux said. “We just had a lapse of concentration and they nicked one in.”

Montverde’s goal came in the second half and the scorer, who received the ball of a deflected pass, appeared to be past the last row of defense and therefore offsides. The line judge did not signal to the head judge, and the goal stood.

“I didn’t see anything that made me think the goal should have been overturned,” junior Darshan Ghayal said. “He might have been offsides, but if we had scored, we wouldn’t be worrying about it as much.”

The Wildcats’ offense struggled through much of the game, and Ghayal attributes it to simply needing extra practice.

“We need to work on in-game stuff in practice, and increase our shooting on goal,” he said. “We played extremely well as a unit last night, and our defense was stifling, but we have to score more.”

The Wildcats have played the Eagles several times over the past four years and as yet have not been achieved a victory. Despite the losses, the Wildcats have shown significant improvement against Montverde since falling 6-1 in the fall of 2011.

“I mean we were playing the top team in the country,” Robidoux said. “They’re obviously really good, but we were right there with them. If we can play with them, we can play with anyone.”