The Bishop O’Connell Knights enjoyed another strong campaign, one of the best yet, in boys soccer.
The Knights finished 17-5, the most wins in a season since Chris Jennings took over as head coach 13 years ago. The squad had eight shutouts and reached the tournament semifinals of both the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and Division I state competitions.
Arlington high schools have a much less busy week of sports action ahead because of the Thanksgiving holiday and the transition from the fall to the winter sports season.
But there is one big postseason region-tournament football game on tap for the Washington-Liberty Generals. There also will be a few preseason basketball and wrestling scrimmage events, and a girls ice-hockey match.
Their final record may not indicate so, but the coaching staff for the Bishop O’Connell Knights football team believes the high-school squad made progress this fall compared to last season’s 3-7 mark.
O’Connell finished 2-9 in 2024 with a 1-3 record in the Metro Division of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference to earn a playoff playoff berth. The Knights finished 0-4 in the division last fall, missing the playoffs.
Add more first-time accomplishments earned by the Bishop O’Connell Knights field-hockey team this season.
They have become an annual thing since Megan Sullivan took over as head coach four seasons ago.
Arlington high schools have a much less busy week of fall sports action ahead, but there are postseason tournaments still in progress for some teams.
There will be two football playoff games Friday night (Nov. 15) involving three Arlington teams, plus the semifinals of the Class 6 state girls field hockey tournament for the Yorktown Patriots.
With the Player of the Year and multiple other honorees, the Bishop O’Connell Knights were well-represented on this fall’s all-conference girls high-school soccer teams.
Sophomore forward Audrey McKeen, who scored a single-season team record 37 goals this fall, was chosen as the Player of the Year in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. She helped lead O’Connell to a 16-2-3 record, a Northern Virginia Independent Schools State Invitational championship (third in four seasons) and a second in the WCAC tournament.
Three high-school football teams from Arlington will play first-round playoff games in postseason tournaments Friday (Nov.15) with 7 p.m. kickoffs.
The Washington-Liberty Generals and Yorktown Patriots will meet in a 6D North Region contest. Washington-Liberty (10-0) will host the showdown.
After a disappointing runner-up finish in conference-tournament action, the Bishop O’Connell Knights bounced back.
The girls high-school team and second seed ended its season by winning the four-team Northern Virginia Independent Schools State Invitational with a 2-0 record.
It was a busy afternoon, with Bishop O’Connell High School girls teams playing in three different state-tournament contests at home last Tuesday (Nov. 5).
In the end, O’Connell teams won all three — soccer, field hockey and volleyball — to advance in the Division I private-school state competitions.
A young Bishop O’Connell Knights boys team placed fifth in this season’s Division I state private-school cross-country championships.
With three freshmen among the high-school team’s top six finishers, the Knights scored 161 points, trailing winner Potomac School (with 63) on the 5,000-meter Panorama Farms course near Charlottesville on Thursday (Nov. 7).
Arlington high schools have a much less busy and shorter week of sports action ahead, with final regular-season football games and playoff events for a few teams as the fall season has ended for a number of squads.
There will be one football game Friday night (Nov. 8) between the host Wakefield Warriors and Washington-Liberty Generals in an all-Arlington showdown. The Bishop O’Connell Knights and Yorktown Patriots play Saturday (Nov. 9).
A strong start on offense and big defensive play near the end of the football game propelled the Bishop O’Connell Knights to a road victory on Saturday (Nov. 2).
Visiting O’Connell (2-7, 1-2) led from start to finish but had to hang on to defeat the Bishop Ireton Cardinals, 17-13, in a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) Metro Division high-school contest in Alexandria.
