Blend of experience, youth breeds confidence for Woodland
BEACON FALLS — Entering his 13th season as head coach of the Woodland boys soccer team, there isn’t much Tony Moutinho hasn’t seen.
Last year, the Hawks finished the season 3-12-1. Seeing that record isn’t a fond memory for Moutinho, he enters this season with high expectations as the Hawks look to put last year behind them.
“I have big expectations this year for my guys, we have experience and youth mix together, so if we gel together, we should be a competitive team,” Moutinho said.
Since their Naugatuck Valley League Championship win back in the 2011-12 season, when they were undefeated (18-0-1), the Hawks have stumbled from their nest the past two seasons with sub-.500 records both years.
Lead by captains Daniel Leclerc, Sam Merriman and Matthew Spofford, the Hawks are flying high with confidence that they lacked mightily last season.
“Last year their heads were held low and they didn’t think they were any good and now in their scrimmages they’re full of energy and they think they can beat anybody,” Moutinho said.
Coach Moutinho and his staff can only do so much with the boys when it comes to on-the-field success, but off the field, encouragement was key to turning around their mentalities.
“I just told them they were good enough to beat anybody and they believed it, sometimes kids just believe you, then they believe in themselves. This year I will tell them to not worry about the losses and just move on to the next one because we can’t change that anymore,” Moutinho said.
The boys team didn’t get its first win last season until the end of September, after starting out 0-6-1, while being held scoreless three times during that stretch.
“We started so flat last year. No one had confidence and they got discouraged really easy, so we can’t have that happen again this year,” Moutinho said.
The Hawks will have to improve on a porous defense that allowed 3.5 goals per game last season. Moutinho said the team is looking for consistent play in net.
“Our biggest obstacle this season is our goalkeeping, we need to get some consistent play behind the net and figure that out what we’re going to do there because it’s a concern of mine,” Moutinho said.
With their first game against Naugatuck, one of the top teams in the league, the Hawks will be tested early on and will see how much they’ve grown. Fortunately for the 2014 Hawks, they have a veteran head coach who puts the past behind him and starts fresh every year with the same goal in mind, winning it all.
“We can do it. With a little bit of luck, we can go all the way this year and win the championship,” Moutinho said.
The Hawks will find out soon enough if they can return to the top of the soccer world. They kick off with their season at home against Naugatuck Sept. 9 at 3:30 p.m. at host Holy Cross Sept. 11.
