The Westport soccer team is 1-0-2 after three games and yet the Wildcats haven’t found their rhythm after winning the Division 5 State Championship last season.

“This team's got a lot of talent,” said head coach Chris Parker. “It’s just the chemistry right now is lacking.”

Sophomore  Austin Raposo and junior  Chris Couto each scored during the Wildcats’ 2-2 home tie against Diman on Saturday morning.

“Will Quinlan had an assist off a brilliant header which led to Carter's goal,” said Coach Parker.

Quinlan and Couto each scored in Westport’s 2-1 home victory over Holbrook on Tuesday afternoon.

Quinlan, a senior, cradled a left-side cross with his foot and then blasted the ball into the back of the goal, for a 1-0 lead, mid-way through the second half. It was the first goal of the season for Quinlan, who scored a team high 32 goals last season. When going well the senior can score goals in bunches. He and senior goalkeeper Noah Amaral are the Wildcats’ captains this season. They are strong leaders both on and off the field.

“It was extremely important for Will to score,” said Coach Parker. “We got a couple of players off the snide. Maybe that’s what we needed.”

“Obviously there's high expectations for us,” said Quinlan. “But we have a big target on our backs after last year. We’ve got to push through, work hard and take it game by game.”

Difficulty finishing

On Tuesday, The Wildcats had trouble finishing their scoring bids, allowing the Bulldogs to hang around and it almost cost Westport the game.

Holbrook tied the score shortly after Quinlan’s goal, on a kick from just in front of the net. Amaral (4 saves) dove to his right, but had no chance at the ball.

With new found life, Holbrook made several attacks on goal, but the Westport goalkeeper and the defensive crew, staved them off.

It wasn’t until defensive midfielder Zach Lopes lifted a terrific pass to Couto in the Holbrook box. Couto headed the ball on goal and it deflected off the keeper into the net to give Westport a 2-1 lead with under 6 minutes to play. Couto celebrated the score by making a backflip. The final buzzer sounded shortly after, but the feeling loomed.

Last season the Wildcats went through a similar rough patch to start the season. Though it wasn’t worrisome. The team was so strong through the middle with central midfielder Ben Novo, midfielder Tommy Bernard and center backs Ryan Borges and Marcos Dutra Africano controlling play and getting the ball to Quinlan and the other forwards for scoring opportunities.

It was a huge strength.

With those players graduated and gone, the Wildcats have big shoes to fill. Coach Parker had pegged junior Travis Carvalho to fill one of the central midfielder positions, but he was injured in their first game, a 1-1 tie with Bishop Stang, and is now out for the season. Senior Ben Cross, was nursing a hamstring injury, but has mended well enough to play a strong game against Diman.

“I had to reconfigure everything again,” Coach Parker said. “With our formation central midfielder is a crucial postion and we had to replace two of them. So I knew there was going to be a learning curve there.”

Making new adjustments

After the Holbrook game, Coach Parker made new adjustments to strengthen the middle of the field. He moved Quinlan, the Wildcats' striker to attacking midfielder with Lopes as the defensive midfielder and Landen Novo as passing midflielder. He moved sophomore Austin Raposo into the striker spot to replace Quinlan.

"We will sacrifice some of Will's goal scoring," said Coach Parker, "But it will allow him to control the midfield for us."

"Central midfielder is a very tough position to play as a sophomore,” Coach Parker said. “It helps to have experience. You have to read the play almost before it happens. It takes time." 

Coach Parker said that the Wildcats made strides in their midfield play during the Diman game. Quinlan, Lopes and Novo were all credited with strong play. The back four are also beginning to come together.

“Diman switched to a 4-3-3 formation and repeatedly tried to play direct to their forward players,”Coach Parker said. “Cross, Garrett Skov, Henry Gillet, and Lucas Freitas played incredibly stout defense in the second half.”

“We have young guys stepping up in key positions,” said Amaral. “I believe what it comes down to is, working hard and we'll be right back in the same spot.”

Amaral made 3 saves during the Diman game.

Tough teams coming to play

The fall season is long and Coach Parker and crew will fix the issues and the wins will come, but will they come in time to secure the tournament spot Coach Parker is hoping for.

Westport brought in stiffer competition, upper division teams like, Durfee, Somerset Berkley and East Bridgewater, to bolster their schedule in hopes of gaining a better power rankings number and a higher seed in the tournament this season.

“It's gonna be a problem,” Coach Parker said. “We're gonna dig ourselves a hole early, If we don't figure this out. These teams are going to give us everything we can handle.”

Next up: Westport will host Wareham on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. and Atlantis Charter on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.