Before the season, Catasauqua’s boys’ soccer team believed they could be in the hunt for a postseason bid, a goal that barely has eluded them the past few years.

If a few breaks had turned their way, the Roughies could have reached their goal. Unfortunately, they didn’t as they finished with an overall 5-13 mark.

Still, head coach Mike Baclawski liked what he saw from his team.

“I’m proud of how we prepared and positioned ourselves ready to play,” he said. “We had high expectations at the start of the season, but things didn’t work out. We lost three games by one goal each and if we could have won those, we could have had a better shot at districts.

“I think we could have fared well in 2A in districts, but we didn’t put ourselves in a position to win the games we needed.”

The Roughies were in the thick of things earlier, as they had a 3-3 mark through their first six games. But they then went on a seven-game losing streak that sent their season in the opposite direction.

“We had a big win against Bangor (2-1 on Sept. 12), but then we got into the tougher part of our schedule,” said Baclawski. “We thought we could pull it out against Jim Thorpe on our senior night, but we lost 4-2.

“We then wanted to play spoilers on Northern Lehigh’s senior night. We were down 3-1 and Bryan Contreras scored and got hurt on the play and gave himself up for the team.

“John Dweck then provided the highlight of our season. All year, he was waiting for something like this to happen. He scored to tie the game when he scored with a shot high to the opposite corner and he ran right over to me on the sidelines. It was a moment that neither of us will forget. We went on to win the game and that was huge for us.”

Dweck and Contreras are among a small senior core that will definitely be missed. Other graduates are Joey Kaeppel, Drew Verenna, and Sam Safadi.

But the Roughies will return a good number of underclassmen who will need to work to reach the next level.

“They are definitely a good core and all made significant contributions to the program,” said Baclawski. “We were able to play some freshmen and a group of sophomores who made an impact for us.

“But they will have to work hard in the offseason and get involved in club teams and training.”