Westport Lacrosse

Growing pains aside, new lacrosse team looks to improve on season

Wildcats falls to Upper Cape Cod 12-3

Story and photos by Richard W. Dionne, Jr. 
Posted 5/1/23

The Westport lacrosse team fell to Upper Cape Cod 12-3 in a home league game on Wednesday afternoon. Though the Wildcats have experienced some growing pains, the first-year team has been competitive …

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Westport Lacrosse

Growing pains aside, new lacrosse team looks to improve on season

Wildcats falls to Upper Cape Cod 12-3

Posted

The Westport lacrosse team fell to Upper Cape Cod 12-3 in a home league game on Wednesday afternoon. Though the Wildcats have experienced some growing pains, the first-year team has been competitive in the Mayflower conference and looks to improve in the second half of the season. 

“The loss was disappointing for the team,” said Wildcats head coach Matt Shivers. “Despite playing a very even game and being ahead for much of the first half, a combination of inexperience and some tough early injuries led to a rough third quarter.”

The loss drops the Wildcats record to 3-6. The newly formed Wildcats began the season with a win over Cape Cod Regional. Then dropped three straight to South Shore, Old Colony and Blue Hills before beating Bristol Plymouth 8-5 on April 11, and crushing New Bedford 16-3 on April 14. 

 

Forming the team

Head coach Matt Shivers, an English teacher at the high school, helped to form the lacrosse team after coaching the Bishop Connolly-Westport Co-op team for the past few years. Coach Shivers played lacrosse during high school in New Jersey and at Northeastern University. He has been coaching the sport for twelve years and has been pushing for a team at the high school.

“In my ten years at Westport, I wanted there to be a team here. I tried to push for it. But I was told that we needed more kids playing the sport. The school committee decided that the timing was right this season, with Bishop Connolly closing, to form a team.” 

Coach Shivers likes what he is seeing out of his first-year squad.

“It’s a brand new team,” he said. “A lot of players are new to the sport. There is not a culture of lacrosse here, which is really tough.” 

It has been difficult for Westport to play experienced teams, where the players have started in youth leagues and grown up playing the sport.

“It’s not like soccer, baseball and basketball,” he said, “Where everyone has been playing since they have been in elementary school.”

However, Coach Shivers feels that due to the structure of lacrosse and its similarity to other sports, Westport athletes have been able to pick it up quickly. 

It's a totally new sport to the players, which makes it challenging,” he said, “Soccer players tend to do especially well, because of the way that many skills transition between those sports.”

 

McGonigle leads the team in scoring

The team’s strongest offensive player is multi-sport athlete Coltrane McGonigle. The senior’s main sport is soccer, but McGonigle played his way into the top six during the basketball season and is currently the lacrosse team’s leading scorer with 12 goals and 8 assists for 20 points. 

“Coltrane is an incredibly strong player and has a background that works well to prepare kids to play this sport,” said Coach Shivers. 

McGonigle plays on the attack line with Avery Viveros and Jay Cross. Viveros, a senior captain, is second on the team in scoring with 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points. Midfielders Isaiah Poydras, Will Quinlan and Owen Boudria, also have produced, offensively, for the Wildcats. Poydras, a junior, is third in scoring with 11 goals and 1 assist for 12 points. Quinlan a sophomore, has 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points and Boudria, a sophomore, has 8 goals for 8 points.

“They have really anchored our attack,” said Coach Shivers. “Ultimately though, lacrosse is a team sport. The offense wouldn't have any goals if we weren't able to stop the ball defensively, or transition to the offensive side of the field. Because Attack men aren't allowed to cross midfield, success uniquely depends on every part of the team flowing together effectively.”

 

Team captains and positions

The Wildcats have four captains, Viveros, Poydras, Matt Borges and Nick Costa, that have had experience on the Connolly-Westport Co-op team. 

“The captains have a large impact on the team and on the games,” said Coach Shivers. 

“Avery has been hugely influential to the team. He is very dedicated and constantly pushing the players to be better. He is a very versatile and shines in any position we put him in.”

Viveros and Borges, also senior, worked hard in the off season to run captains practices and teach the team fundamentals. 

“Matt leads our defense and is always working to make sure that other players know where they should be, and has done an incredible job of showing effective man to man defense,” he said. 

Borges plays in the middle on the defensive line with deep pole defenders Ben Cross and Hunter Mateus.

Costa, a junior from Bishop Connolly, plays a specialized position called long stick midfielder. 

“Nick is always pushing himself to improve,” said Coach Shivers. 

Senior Shaun Desroches is the Wildcats’ goalkeeper. 

“It’s Shaun’s first year,” said Coach Shivers, but he’s playing pretty well to be honest. It’s a tough position to step into, probably the hardest on the field and he’s doing it really well.”

 

Time to improve

Coach Shivers is looking for the team to gel and improve over the second half of the season. 

“I’m looking to see the team push forward,” said Coach Shivers. “Find that rhythm and build a successful result. We have some great athletes and we already are outperforming last year’s team. I'm very optimistic about the future.”

 

 

 

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