By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Westborough – The departure of 12 seniors from the Westborough High School (WHS) soccer team that posted an impressive 13-5-2 record a season ago and advanced to district semifinals would appear to have a staggering impact on the team’s future.
Not so, according to third-year WHS boys’ varsity soccer head coach John Hillier, who will be assisted by Greg James and Bobby Cooley for the upcoming 2015 season. He explained that the Rangers have a rich history of soccer success and are blessed with an excellent feeder system that keeps the talent coming their way.
“We seem to lose players every season and we seem to reload,” Hillier said. “We’re fortunate that there are always players that will step up.”
The 2015 squad will be led by senior captains Will Kelley, Griffin Barry, Keiyi Guevara and Collin Priest. All have an abundance of talent and leadership skills that have already surfaced both on and off the field.
“We had a really good season and we lost a lot of seniors who graduated,” Kelley said. “We’re pretty young and small but we’re skillful and have a lot of talent. There’s a lot of camaraderie and we’re really coming together as a group. I think we can make a run at the districts. I think a lot of teams won’t expect us to come out because we’re small and young but we possess the ball well and should score a lot of goals.”
The captains takes their roles seriously in assimilating the younger players into tough varsity competition and are doing it well, Hillier noted.
“Our captains did a really nice job this summer. What we tried to do was select our captains mid-spring and we worked with them to plan the summer activities that we have with the team,” Hillier said. “The captains did a wonderful job because they’re here running practices and organizing them. We don’t care about wins and losses in the summer. We just want kids to be comfortable with each other and have a fun time for the kids and the captains made that happen.”
Other contributing to the team’s success are seniors Mickael Buswell, Benjamin Feldman, Nicholas Gallo, David Linares, Jake Lubsen, Max McGourty and David Triano; juniors Matthew Bongi, Rebonto Dey, Conor Hillier, Vikram Mathew, Aidan Merritt, Spencer Nagi, Michael Reh and Vinny Rosa and sophomores Greg Amador, Chris Amador, Rian Barrett, Tyler Stott and Thomas VonDerVellen.
“It’s all about making this year’s team good but also next year’s building the Ranger generation,” explained co-captain Priest. “Teaching them the right way to play but also the right way to live is very important.”
The practices over the summer seem to be paying off already.
“I see a lot of chemistry with the kids,” said Hillier of his 2015 squad. “They treat each other with respect This is a great group of kids who really love the game. I like the energy we have. We have a lot of youth and a lot of skill so when we combine everything we have a lot going. I think it’s going to be a great year for us.”
The team knows that getting off to a fast start is critical. The Rangers open the season hosting always-tough Shrewsbury Sept. 8 and then hit the road for three consecutive games. Finding the right combinations that complement one another often takes time and some trial and error.
“A lot of teams at the beginning of the season are trying to find out who they are,” Hillier said. “I hope we get off to a good start, but we’re going to be experimenting with players getting used to each other so it will take a little while. I’d say by the fifth game we should really know who we are.”
Hillier said the he expects a lot out of his team again this year.
“Our expectations are very high,” he said. “We look to compete in the districts. I know we’ll be there. Division 1 is very competitive with a lot of fine teams and a lot of fine coaching. We’ll have to work hard. We’ve been lucky to have made semifinals the last two years and that is not easy to do in Division 1. We hope to get to the finals and we’ll see what happens.”