The undefeated Westport soccer team edged Monument Mountain Regional High School 3-2 during a Division-4 Sweet 16 home game on Saturday afternoon. The 6th seeded, 16-0-2 Wildcats move on to face 19th seeded Gardner in the Elite 8 at home on Wednesday at 2 p.m. 

“It's just amazing how they just they really play for one another,” said Wildcats head coach Chris Parker after the game. “They genuinely love one another and they play hard for one another. The chemistry is exceptional and when you have that you're able to come out on top in games like today.”

 

Wildcats face toughest challenge yet in Spartans

Westport faced their toughest challenge yet, knocking off a tough Spartans team. Tiago Rodrigues, Joey Guild and Austin Raposo scored for Westport in the fierce evenly-matched contest. 

“It was a really tough battle” said co-captain Garrett Skov. “Honestly, I think it's probably one of the toughest teams we've played all season. Their ranking doesn't really say who they are. They were really good. But, we showed a lot of grit this game and we really fought hard to win.”

 

Rodrigues, a junior forward, struck first with seven minutes left in the first half, blasting a right-footed kick from 25-yards out that tailed right to left over the head of Monument goalkeeper Xavier Hernandez to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. 

Midfielder Joey Guild scored a minute later, kicking the ball into the goal after a Carter Couto corner kick. Couto placed a perfect kick into the middle of the box as the Wildcats charged the goal. Senior center back Garrett Skov out-leaped the pack and headed the ball off the cross bar. It caromed down and fell at Guild’s feet and he out-quicked the keeper and placed it into the goal for a Westport 2-0 lead. 

 

 

Monument Mountain storms back and knots the game

Monument Mountain didn’t quit. Instead they stormed back and scored minutes later. Spartans Midfielder Milo Potoski beat Wildcats goalkeeper Elijah McGonigle (8 saves) from inside the goal box with 5-minutes left to cut the lead 2-1 heading into the half. 

 

“He’s an incredibly skilled and dynamic player,” Coach Parker said about Potoski.”He’s slippery and can just break you down pretty quickly with his foot skills. But we knew about that.”

 

Potoski scored again as the Wildcats committed a grave mistake less than a minute into the second half. Westport committed an infraction in the penalty box during a Spartan’s attack, giving Monument Mountain a gift-penalty kick. 

Potoski easily beat McGonigle for the second time, knotting the score 2-2. 

 

Teams increase intensity trying to score

After the goal, the game became more ferocious as both teams increased their intensity while pressing to score. Pushing, shoving, body checks and sliding tackles were all in play. Both teams had goal chances during direct kicks and corner kicks as players began falling to injury. 

“A lot of us have injuries,” said Skov. “But we show up to practice and come out to play every game. We have a lot of spirit and we really like to fight for it.”

 

Raposo gives Westport a 3-2 lead

Westport junior striker Austin Raposo, who was called upon to play midfielder against Monument Mountain for his defensive skills, played large all over the field.  The junior helped out both offensively and defensively, blocking kicks, thwarting attacks, making steals and pressing the ball up-field, offensively. With 22:37 left in the game Raposo found room to dribble up the left side, past the midfield-line and into Monument Mountain territory. With the wind at his back, he blasted a 40-yard kick by the goalkeeper and off the crossbar. The ball slammed-down into the goal to give Westport a 3-2 lead.

Teammates celebrated quietly as CJ Leblanc, who followed up the play, was injured as the goalkeeper came down on his legs attempting to make a save. 

Leblanc later returned to the game to help his teammates protect the lead the rest of the way. Westport goalkeeper Elijah McGonigle made 8 saves during the victory and the defensive back line of Skov, Blake Stewart, Noah Jedrey and Preston Carvalho, played well in the victory, as did central-midfielder Landon Novo consistently made stops and got the Wildcats on track offensively. 

 

“It’s a credit to these guys,” said Coach Parker. “They could have dropped their heads and just mailed it in when Monument tied the score, but they didn’t. This is a crew that plays tirelessly to the bitter end. They have been outstanding.”

 

Westport blanks Seekonk 3-0 in Round of 32

Senior midfielder Carter Couto scored two goals as Westport shutout Seekonk in the Division 4 Round of 32 at home on Wednesday afternoon. 

Couto scored the winning goal to break a 0-0 tie in the second half. The midfielder took a pass from Austin Raposo and placed a left-footed kick into the goal for a 1-0 lead. He added an insurance goal minutes later. Raposo scored a third goal to ice the shutout victory over the 27th ranked Warriors. Goalkeeper Elijah McGonigle and the Westport defense earned their 12th clean sheet of the season. 

“it felt awesome to score the first goal,” said Couto, a Wildcats co-captain. “The first goal is always the biggest, especially in these playoff games. It shifts the whole momentum. Coach really gave us some firepower at halftime. He told us that we don’t want to play our last game, especially at home. We have an awesome fan base here. We just got to bring it to them and play our style.”