OAKDALE — The boys soccer season ended a little sooner than they the Hawks would have liked Nov. 3 as No. 27 Woodland fell 6-2 to No. 6 seed Montville in the opening round of the Class M tournament.
The Hawks showed early on that they didn’t make the 70 mile trip to Oakdale for nothing.
Woodland fell behind in the opening minutes after the Indians scored on a penalty kick. But after back and forth goals in the first half the game sat tied 2-2 at halftime. Montville pulled away with four goals in the second half to end the Hawks’ season.
“You know, the guys had fun out there and that’s all that matters to me,” Woodland head coach Tony Moutinho said.
The Hawks started the season off slow losing six out of their first eight games. Woodland turned things around down the stretch though winning five of the last eight games to qualify for the tournament as they fired on all cylinders.
The Hawks outscored their opponents 24-4 in their five wins in the month of October, leading Moutinho to think back on what could have been if the Hawks were healthy all year.
“We had a great run this year and I’m very proud with how everyone performed on the season,” Moutinho said. “If we were healthy all season long, I know we would have played at a higher level.
“I feel excited about our chances next season to do even better than we did this season. We might not be returning as many players, but it all comes down the health and that was a problem for us this year.”
To reach the state tournament again next year, a 2-6 start to the season will have to be avoided in 2015 and Moutinho is confident that his team will start off faster.
“We were behind the eight-ball all season long and when we were working towards getting healthy, we won some games, so I’m confident next season will be much better,” Moutinho said.
