WELLS — The Wells boys soccer team expected to make a big jump in 2013, but instead won one less game than the year before. That expectation to make a jump continues this season, but instead of waiting for it to happen, the Warriors have been working tirelessly since the 2013 season ended to make sure 2014 is a better year.

The Warriors won just one game when Dan Quint was a freshman in 2011, then jumped up to four wins in 2012 as Quint began to blossom. But in 2013, both Quint and the Warriors plateaued.

Now, Quint and his fellow Wells seniors have set out to make sure their last year playing high school soccer is their best year.

“We’re pretty senior-heavy, and these guys have been playing together for a very long time,” Wells head coach Sean Bishop said of his senior class. “They want to go out on a high note. They want to gain some respect for Wells soccer.”

“We got a lot of motivation. We weren’t the team our record was; we were better than that,” Quint said of last year’s team. “And we’re a lot better this year; everyone has improved.”

The work to be better started in the offseason, when Quint said more players put in more time than he’s ever seen before.

“It’s always been a goal to get people together in the summer, but it’s never happened to the extent as we got it going,” said Quint. “I think every player went at least a couple times a week, and just because they wanted to; we weren’t pressuring anyone.”

That leadership from the seniors will hopefully lead to better results for the Warriors, who didn’t have a positive leadership group last season, according to Quint. Wells expected to be good, and when things started to go bad, so did the attitudes. Both Quint and Bishop said they expect an attitude adjustment this year.

“(Dan’s) attitude just shows where peoples’ attitudes should be,” said Bishop.

Quint’s skills are a boost for the Warriors, but when he had to move into new, uncomfortable positions last season, his production suffered. Bishop said Quint has worked on adapting to those new positions, and the team as a whole should benefit from that.

“I’m definitely looking to have a better year this year than I did last year. But it’s not about me. It’s a different team this year; we’re so much better in all aspects of the game,” said Quint. “Regardless if I score a lot of goals, we’re going to do fine. And I’ll pick up my role ”“ I’ll find it ”“ and just play my role throughout the season.”

Quint stands out on the field due to his wealth of talent, but it’s not something that he likes. Bishop said that when he interviewed Quint during the preseason, every comment Quint made had the word “team” in it.

Bishop said Quint has “just a good sense of steady, quiet leadership and the willingness to do whatever is asked of him.”

Quint said the team is ready to make the jump this year. He said the boys soccer program is ready to add to the Wells athletic legacy.

“We had some success in some other sports; everyone on this team plays multiple sports. This past year has been a pretty successful year for Wells sports, and we’ve all been a part of that. We want to bring that to soccer this year,” he said. “We’re looking to really make a name for Wells and prove other teams wrong when they come here thinking they’re going to get an easy W.”

The Warriors have sat near the bottom of Western Class B for a decade, but Quint said this year, he expects things to be different. But just making the playoffs isn’t good enough.

“We believe we can be a playoff team, and that’s the lowest part of our goal. We all decided that just making playoffs isn’t good enough, we got to win at least two games in playoffs, really make a stand for ourselves,” said Quint. “We are so much better than we were, than we have ever been. And not just because of the skill, but because of cooperation, teamwork.

“We have some pretty high expectations for ourselves.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.