But head coach Nick Hoffman knows the feeling of playing at that level, and he's hoping to lead the Wildcats back to the playoffs in the 2003­04 season. And with eight of 11 starters returning this winter, the Cats' chances look pretty good.

"We're looking for our first playoff appearance in four years," said Hoffman, who played for three Los Gatos teams that advanced to CCS—including a section championship team in 1994­95.

Heading up the hopes for the hometown team are returning all-leaguers seniors Andrew Perkins, Steven Whitham, Nathan Swartley and Alex Fincher. Perkins, a midfielder, and Whitham, a defender, were each all-league first-team picks last year and Swartley, a goalkeeper, and Fincher, a defender, were named to the second team. Swartley was also named the Goalkeeper of the Year in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Los Gatos finished second in the El Camino Division last year with an 8-1-2 record (10-3-5 overall) and opted to move up to the De Anza Division this season. Hoffman figures the Cats can compete in the tougher division, where the top three finishers advance to CCS play.

The Wildcats got off to a rough start in the new league, though, when they lost their opener to league favorite Mountain View 3-1, then fought Los Altos to a scoreless tie.

Senior midfielder David Orosco scored a first-half off a Jeremy Cleveland assist, but the Spartans broke a 1-1 halftime tie with two unanswered goals in the second half to claim the win.

Los Gatos moved to 3-4-2 for the year with the 0-0 tie against Los Altos two days later. The encouraging thing for the Cats, though, is that it marked their fourth shutout in nine games.

"Our defense has been the key to keeping us afloat," said Hoffman. "It's been a slow start for us offensively, but the team is really starting to come together."

"Everyone realizes that we don't have that one player who can win a game all by himself," he added, "so we've worked on the philosophy of a total team effort in order to allow us to be successful."

Cleveland is one of three talented players coming up from the frosh-soph expected to help the varsity this winter. Kevin Bakken, Kourosh Behnam and Cleveland were each all-leaguers at the frosh-soph level, and Bakken was named the division's Most Valuable Player after scoring 16 goals.