They may not have been able to come up with the victory, but Thursday’s Senior Night clash with Amesbury still served as a well deserved celebration of the four elder statesmen on the Rockport boys soccer team.
Those four seniors — captains Quinten Savlen, Braydon Wall and Chase Wheat and “honorary captain” Alejandro Jimenez — have had to carry quite the load for a youthful Vikings squad, and they’ve delivered in more ways than one.
From a leadership perspective, the foursome has done a tremendous job taking the many sophomores on the team under their wing, showing them what it takes to compete at the varsity level and find success. It may not have always resulted in wins throughout this current regular season — which concludes against Danvers on Saturday — but Rockport has been extremely competitive in all their games and shown some phenomenal defensive prowess as it gears up for the playoffs.
“As seniors they’re put in a very difficult position with such a young team and it’s been their composure and tutelage that is helping the sophomores grow as fast as they can,” Rockport head coach Lou Savlen said after his team suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Amesbury on Thursday evening.
“It’s frustrating to lose tight games like this due to just lack of experience, and I’m sure it’s frustrating for the seniors. But for the sophomores, it’s very rewarding to have four leaders like that who have really been great role models for these guys.”
Wall — who scored the lone goal off an assist from sophomore Dion Cassera on Thursday — and Wheat have each been two of the top offensive gunners for a group that’s admittedly struggled to find the back of the net at times this fall. Savlen has served as an anchor defensively alongside a slew of sophomores, and Jimenez brings his own unique dimension to the fold as a leader both on and off the pitch.
They’ve all more than done their part, and although it’s resulted in just a 5-9-3 record thus far, that mark can certainly be misleading. Rockport continues to compete in the ever-challenging Cape Ann League, going against a number of talented programs, most of which are in higher divisions than them.
They’ve had a number of competitive results, and it’s allowed the Vikings to remain very relevant in the Division 5 MIAA power rankings. In fact, they checked in at No. 14 in the latest release earlier this week.
“Playing a lot of these upper division teams has only made us stronger,” said coach Savlen.
From a defensive standpoint, Rockport has certainly held its own. Quinten Savlen is joined in the backfield by 10th-graders Mario DeBenedictis, MJ Silver, Jack Trupiano and the aforementioned Cassera, while junior keeper Zakarya Bouafi has been nothing short of spectacular between the posts.
“I’m happy with the defensive efforts; I can’t say I could expect anything more than what I’ve gotten back there,” added Savlen.
“That’s a very young backfield and two of them started as freshmen last year. But they’ve been rock steady and I have no complaints with what we’ve done back there against some of the best competition.”
“Zakarya has faced a lot of shots, especially playing teams like Manchester (Essex), North Reading and Lynnfield,” added the coach. “He’s faced a lot of shots and kept us in a lot of games.”
So, thanks to their stellar seniors, Rockport has seen terrific growth this year and has set themselves up for future seasons. They’ll return the bulk of their lineup next fall and should be ready to carry the torch passed down from the soon-to-be graduates.
Of course, the Vikings would love nothing more than to surprise a few teams in Division 5 this season, too, and make a nice postseason run.
That’s something that could certainly come to fruition by lighting the lamp just a few more times on offense.
“We’ve created plenty of opportunities and I think for the most part in most of our games we’ve out-shot our opponents,” said Savlen.
“Unfortunately we just can’t seem to put it in the back of the net, but that will come with more and more experience.”
Saturday’s regular season finale is slated for a 3 p.m. start in Rockport, and then it’s off to the playoffs. And if this year’s regular season schedule has taught the Vikings anything, it’s that they are capable of competing with any team in the looming bracket and boast a hungry senior class that’s eager to make some noise.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.