EAST PROVIDENCE — Nothing like a little adversity to test the mettle of a new coach and a host of new players, which is exactly what the East Providence High School boys' soccer club and first-year mentor Tim Calouro have already faced barely two weeks since the start of practice for the 2023 season.

Calouro, who takes over from former EPHS teammate and good friend Tony Vieira after the latter stepped away following a 13-year stint, found out just a day before the Townies played Moses Brown late last week in their annual Injury Fund outing the team would be without three expected starters due to academic ineligibility.

If East Providence's response to the news is any indication — the Townies beat the Quakers 2-1 at Barrington High — then things should go relatively well for the locals and their novice head coach.

Brian Rutkowski netted the first EPHS goal on a rebound off a free kick. Nathan Capelo added the second from the penalty spot. Two Townies split time in net. James McShane conceded the lone Moses Brown tally, but also made four saves in one half of action. Kyle Desrosiers made fives saves in his half of play.

East Providence lost seven regulars and eight contributors total to graduation, including multi-year starting keeper Nick Bento, from the 2022 side that finished with a 6-5-3 record and with 24 points in the regular season, 6-6-3 overall in all league games last fall.

That sixth loss was a frustrating upset defeat to Classical in the preliminary round of the Division I state championship playoffs. The sides needed 80 minutes of regulation, 10 minutes of overtime and all five rounds of penalty kicks before the 11th-seeded Purple, the last team to qualify for the league playoffs, upset sixth-seeded East Providence by a 2-1 score. Classical won from the spot, 4-3.

Senior returning starter and one of the team captains Dorian DaSilva leads the 2023 Townies along with Capelo, a fellow senior passed up a chance to play in the MLS Next program to remain with EPHS.

DaSilva centers the back line of Calouro's 3-5-2 formation. Senior and first-time varsity player Ed Vieira gets the starting nod on the left side with Rutkowski, a junior and new starter, on the right.

"Dorian is my anchor. He's could start at CCRI or RIC (college) right now, that's how good he is," said Calouro. "For Ed it's the first time he's ever made the varsity roster. He's worked very hard. He's ready to ball. Brian is a tremendous athlete, probably my fastest player. He's going to be my lockdown guy."

Capelo tops the five in the midfield at the central attacking position. Sophomore Tristen Nunes plays right wing. Junior and returning starter Kendrick Costa is on the left. The central defensive mids are junior Edward Barbosa and senior Alexis Silva.

"Ed and Alexis are both really good 360 (degree) players. Tristen and Kendrick, the wings in this formation cover the most ground, do the most running. They have to work really hard. They all have to. And Colin is a such a talented player. He's doing a great job being our leader and captain along with Dorian," said Calouro.

Junior and returning starter Sam Jackson makes the move from right defensive back to forward in the 2023 formation. He's joined up top by classmate Jordan Rodrigues. They along with Capelo are expected to score the majority of the EPHS goals if they can handle the pressures of the positions.

"I'm excited to see what they can do," Calouro said of his group up front. "Sam and Nathan have been playing together since they were young. J Rod has an incredible vertical (jump). He's going to be great on corners. We need him to run a little more east-west instead of north-south to stay onside. But if can develop chemistry with those other two guys we should be fine."

The new head coach, who is one of the founding administrators of East Providence Youth Soccer and is assisted by another former Townie Nathan Bento, said the most difficult choice he's had to make to date in his early tenure was who would replace the aforementioned Nick Bento in net.

Neither McShane, a senior, or Desrosiers, a sophomore, have been with the program in recent years, but each has extensive experience playing at the club level: McShane for the Pawtucket Storm and Desrosiers with EPYS.

"Kyle I've known since he was young. Getting him back in the rotation is key. He's a great player, a great athlete and he's big at 6-feet tall. He just needs a little bit of time to get back into the flow. James, I didn't know, but I knew his pedigree and who coached him. He stepped in as a senior and kind of came out of nowhere. He's been impressive," Calouro said.

He added, "It was the toughest decision I've had to make so far, who gets the start. They're pretty equal. They're each going to get a chance to grab hold of the job. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to how they react when the lights are on and the crowd shows up."

Calouro said four other players are expected to see quality minutes this season, including his son, Logan, a junior right wing/central defensive mid; junior Raphael Ferreira who also plays central defensive mid; junior right back Tyler McLaughlin; and sophomore Alex Montielle, a back three/central defender.

The coach admitted to being "kind of shellshocked" after learning three would-be starters were ruled out due to grades. Though he said one could come back shortly if his situation clears up, the rest of the squad will have to fill the void left by the unexpected absences.

"We're just going to figure it out, guys will have to step up," Calouro said. "We're going to see how teams match up against our formation, shift around if we need to. We're not going to abandon what we've started, but in the back of my mind I have thought about changes if we need to make them.

"But the energy of the guys has been awesome. I really don't know much about the other squads, but our players do, so I'm going to take their word for it at the start. But we're just going to work on what we do, control what we can control and not worry about the other teams."

Asked what his expectations are for his first year, what will please him at the end of his opening season as the EPHS head coach, Calouro said earning a spot in the playoffs (teams need at least 13 points from their 14 regular season league games) "is absolutely possible...We have the talent. We have guys that break games wide open and win games."

After opening up their 2023 slate at home against Central on September 6, the Townies head to Central Falls and Macomber Field for their second outing on Friday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. East Providence remains on the road to start next week, traveling to Cumberland's Tucker Field for a 6:30 kickoff Wednesday night, Sept. 13. The Townies then return home to face Classical Saturday morning, Sept. 16, at 10 o'clock.

— East Providence Post and eastbayri.com contributing photographer Julie Furtado shot the accompanying gallery of photos.