Friday night at Tiger Stadium was a success for the RHS boys’ soccer team, defeating Conally 3-2 in their season opener...but not without some turbulence near the end.
“It was close,” laughed Rodriguez, head coach for the Tigers. “I think we should’ve finished the game in the first twenty minutes.
“But our kids were phenomenal. They ran, they created space, but we got tired and those other boys really wanted it.”
Rockdale got off to a fast start with two goals from junior Chris Olvera, giving his team a 2-0 lead a little over 10 minutes into the forty-minute half.
In the second, RHS added to their lead when German Mata scored with 35:42 left in the half, giving Rockdale a nice, 3-0 advantage.
However, with less than 15 minutes to play, things changed rapidly.
After a Rockdale player received a penalty, CHS was given a free shot 12 yards from the goal.
The shot was blocked by goalie Brandon Hernandez. After the Blue-and-Gold cheered the stop, referees gave Conally another chance due to a Rockdale player being offsides.
This time, the Cadets got past Hernandez to make the score 3-1.
Less than two minutes later, Conally scored again to make it 3-2 with 11:27 left in the match.
The Tigers played keep away for the remainder of regulation and held on to win their season opener.
“Overall, the performance went a little better than I expected,” Rodriguez, who is in his third year of coaching RHS, said. “Conally’s pretty physical.
“I was a little afraid because they started pushing us, but we starting pushing back and we played smart.
Rodriguez also commented on the experience for some of his new players.
“I like how our guys got a feel for it,” he said. “Some of our new players were telling me on the sidelines that they couldn’t believe how fast it was out there but they did well.
“It was pretty intense for a scrimmage.”
THIS WEEK–The Tigers face Lorena after press time Tuesday.
The Leopards are coming off an 18-22 record last season, barely missing out on the playoffs in a district that includes top Waco area teams Robinson, China Spring and Gatesville.
They defeated the Cadets twice in District 17-4A play last season.
RHS has 11 days without games before heading back up to Waco to play a double header at University High School.
First game begins at 10:15 a.m.
LADY TIGERS–The girls opened up their season with a 4-0 loss to Conally, but saw fast improvement with a team mostly made up of girls playing their first ever soccer game.
“We learned a lot,” Rodriguez said. “Now the girls know what to expect.
“First half, we were completely lost, but this is a different team with a lot of freshmen. In the second half, they were fantastic.”
The Lady Cadets got three of their four goals in the first half, but were held to one in the second.
Rodriguez said that was due to making adjustments with new goalie Yarely Navarro.
“We didn’t have a lot of time to go over stuff before the game with her.” he said. “During halftime, we touched on a couple of things she needed to know and fixed them.”
Navarro is a sophomore who saw significant playing time for the RHS varsity basketball squad as a freshman and plays select softball on the weekends that Rodriguez had been trying to convince to join the team.
“I have her in one of my classes and I’ll tell you, I’ve been working on getting her to play since the beginning of the school year,” he said. “I was telling her that she would be good at goalie and really tried to get her excited about it.
“Now we’re happy, but we have to work on keeping her morale up because four goals on a goalie in one game isn’t easy but I think she’s going to be great.”
Like the boys, the Lady Tigers also play in Lorena after press time Tuesday.
They play next on Monday, Dec. 30, at La Vega.
The Lady Vikings are coming off a playoff season finishing fourth in a district shared with regional finalist Lorena.
Gametime is at 2 p.m.
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