The Fenwick hockey team continued to enter into uncharted waters Sunday evening at Southwest Ice Arena in Crestwood.

For the second time in 48 hours, the Friars dropped a one-goal decision to Catholic League front-runner St. Rita , the latest being a 2-1 loss.

Ryan Carroll’s goal with 2:17 to play was the difference as St. Rita improved to 11-0 in the Catholic League. Fenwick fell to 6-4 in conference play and 13-16-1 overall.

‘St. Rita is the team to beat in the Catholic League,’ said Fenwick coach Dan Wolff, whose team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Mustangs on Friday night. ‘We hung with them the past two games, but we still need to do a better job of reading and reacting.’

After blowing a number of point-blank opportunities in the first and second periods, St. Rita cracked the scoring column with 13:47 remaining in the third period. Jeremy Lugo’s wrister from the blue line slipped past Fenwick goalie Peter Szczepanski (29 saves), whose view was blocked by a crowd in front of the net.

Fenwick got even with 5:12 to go after taking advantage of a 5-on-3 power play. Ryan Glazier shot the puck past St. Rita freshman goalie Terry Hughes (15 saves) to tie it at 1-1.

‘That goal gave us some momentum,’ Wolff said. ‘We were making some plays, and our goalie was hot. But we didn’t take advantage of it.’

Carroll made Wolff’s squad pay three minutes later when he hammered home a Garrett Torres crossing pass.

‘We moved the puck around really well on that goal,’ said Carroll, whose team is trying to halt Fenwick’s five-year reign as Kennedy Cup champions. ‘With each win, the target on our back gets bigger and bigger.’

Despite the loss, Szczepanski shined in goal.

“We had some breakdowns defensively,” Szczepanski said. “We played better, but we didn’t play good enough.”

After dropping all three games at the High School Invitational Tournament in Jamestown, New York last week, Fenwick will enter Friday’s battle against Glenbard South riding a five-game losing streak. The Friars’ last win came on Dec. 2, a 5-0 victory over Providence.

“Before we went out to New York, we really didn’t know what to expect,” Szczepanski said. “But since we’ve come back, I think we’re starting to understand what we need to do to be successful.”