WESTBROOK – This past weekend, the Westbrook boys soccer team stayed home to play in the Westbrook Invitational soccer tournament, an annual preseason event.

To Head Coach Tim Gillis, the preseason tourney is a good exercise to help build his team’s fitness in the heat of late summer, but while it’s always good to win, the results don’t matter all that much.

“This is a really good tournament, you’ve got good teams,” said Gillis after the Blazes fell to Presque Isle in an afternoon game. “Yarmouth, Lewiston, Presque Isle, Deering and Westbrook are five strong teams, so there’s really no easy out. It’s not like you can take games off. But in the end, the results are exciting, but they don’t mean anything.”

In a 40-minute game, their third of the afternoon on Saturday, Westbrook lost a 1-0 decision to Presque Isle, but Gillis, who said he was going to accentuate the positives from the game with his team, added that it’s hard to gauge how a team is going to play in the regular season from a preseason tournament.

“It’s a good barometer, but sometimes it’s fool’s gold,” he said. “I’ve had years where we’ve won this thing and then stunk in the opener, and I’ve had years where we’ve not shown so well here and then come out gangbusters in the first couple of games in the season.”

The Blazes had several strong scoring chances in the game against Presque Isle and Gillis said he wants to see Westbrook continue that momentum into the regular season as the Blazes look for a playoff berth and a bounce back from last fall’s 6-7-1 record.

Westbrook will get a tough test right out of the gate this week as they take on South Portland this Saturday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at Olmsted Field. “(South Portland is) always going to be a challenge,” Gillis said. “South Portland’s very good, (and they have) a lot of talent back.”

One factor is the time of the opening game. Gillis said both the Blazes and the Riots typically play their games at night, so to be playing on a Saturday morning is a bit of an unknown factor. “We’re both night teams, so that’ll be interesting,” he said.

Westbrook’s Bizimana Mporwiki takes to the air as he follows through on a kick against Presque Isle on Saturday. The Blazes open the season at home against South Portland on Sept. 4 at 11 a.m.Staff photo by Mike Higgins