Tiago Rodrigues scored a hattrick as the Westport soccer team dominated Brooke Charter School 6-0 during a preliminary playoff game in the Division 4 state tournament at Atlantis Charter on Saturday morning. The 22nd seeded Wildcats with a record of 13-2-3, move on the play at 11th seeded Clinton in the Round of 32 on Monday at 6 p.m.

 

"We did a great job finishing," said senior co-captain Blake Stewart.  

 

Co-captain CJ LeBlanc agreed. "We are spreading the ball around and everyone is scoring goals. That's what you need to do to win a state championship." 

 

The Westport offense dominated as they swarmed the Brooke goal-box and scored four first half goals and two second half goals before Wildcats head coach Chris Parker began emptying his bench in the second half.  

 

"We want to play agressively," said LeBlanc. "We are skilled, too, but we come to play physical no matter what and it's trickled down to me." 

 

Senior outside-midfielder Tiago Rodrigues scored three goals to lead the Westport offense in the onslaught. He tapped in his first goal when a headed pass from senior striker CJ LeBlanc left him one-on-one with the Brooke goalkeeper. A beautiful inside pass from junior midfielder Miguel Ferreira gave Rodrigues another one-on-one chance and he buried it for his second goal. The senior scored his third goal via a header in the second half. 

 

"T-Rod is a great player," LeBlanc said. "We are lucky to have him. He is very skilled and it's been helpful to the team." 

 

Junior center back Jackson Chase and senior midfielders Gavin DaSilva and Tiago Branco also scored for the Wildcats. Chase leaped and kicked a shot by the keeper during a LeBlanc corner kick,  DaSilva booted in an unassisted 25-yard blast and Branco tapped in rebound off the keeper. 

 

Westport also commanded the game defensively. Senior centerback Blake Stewart, senior midfielder Joey Guild, Chase and the rest of the defense kept Brooke from roaming over midfield line much of the game.

 

"We clamped it down today," said Stewart. "We didn't give them many opportunities to score. That's the way we like it and we hope to play that way throughout the tournament."

 

Goalkeeper Johnny Gaboury had to make just a single save to earn his eleventh shutout of the season.