After a strong defensive start in the first half, the Andalusia High School Bulldog varsity soccer team was unable to hold off the Montgomery Catholic High School Knights as they lost 3-0, Friday night.

The Knights had possession for most of the beginning of the game, but Andalusia held their ground.

The first scoring opportunity came from a Montgomery Catholic corner with 36 minutes left in the first half, but goalkeeper Franklin Osario caught it clean.

The Knights had another scoring opportunity two minutes later, but missed the goal wide right.

AHS finally got things moving on the offensive side of the ball with 15:20 left in the first half, when Logan Adams had a hard shot high to the right of the goal, but the Montgomery Catholic goalkeeper made a stretching save.

With 30 seconds left in the first half, the Knights had one more opportunity after a handball right outside of the 18-yard box. The Knight free kick went wide right and the half ended 0-0.

Montgomery Catholic scored in the beginning of the second half with a hard shot low to the left corner of the net with 37:32 minutes left in the half.

Six minutes later, a Montgomery Catholic midfielder put a ball through the middle of the Andalusia defense for a Knight forward to be one on one with Osario and he finished to put the Knights up 2-0.

The Bulldogs held off Montgomery Catholic for six more minutes until a Knight forward dribbled down the left side of the field and put a ground cross in front of the goal for another forward to knock it in, putting the Knights up 3-0.

“We have got to learn how to finish,” AHS head coach Ray Bozeman said. “We played with a lot of intensity in the first half, but we just came out ridiculously flat in the second half. It seems like they just get on us in the second half and it just snowballs from there. I give it to Montgomery Catholic though, they are a good ball team and they capitalized when they should have. We are just going to work on finishing in the second half.”

With the loss, the Bulldogs are now 2-2-1.

Andalusia returns to action on Tuesday Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m., against Goshen High School in Goshen.