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PRINCETON — Joaquin Rodriguez is the type of commodity each soccer crew likes to have.
The senior midfielder largely performs attacking midfield for his Princeton Day Faculty varsity boys’ squad, however he additionally performs lots of central defensive midfield in membership ball.
That makes Rodriguez harmful wherever he’s wanted within the midfield.
Friday in opposition to a troublesome Spotswood squad, Rodriguez was wanted to do some of each as he helped head coach Brian Thomsen’s crew maintain off the Chargers, 2-1, on the turf of Jan Baker Subject.
It was a far cry from the 7-0 drubbing the Panthers had taken by the hands of the Pennington Faculty three days earlier on PDS’ Pagoda grass. It was additionally an necessary determination for an NJSIAA Non-Public B college in opposition to a Group II opponent.
“Here I had a lot more time than on the grass the other day,” Rodriguez mentioned in what some may think about a contradiction on the faster floor. “By dropping into the attack, it helped me pull the strings more. When I needed to, I stayed back on defense.”
What Rodriguez spoke of was principally the story of two halves for the Panthers Friday.
Princeton Day (2-1-1) got here out aggressively within the first half.
Regardless that Spotswood received the sport’s first shot, it was Rodriguez and Co. who cashed in first when senior ahead Julian Liao led junior ahead Yaseen Mousa for the opening aim 4:15 into the competition.
Nineteen minutes later, Rodriguez received into the act when he cranked in a cross from junior Gyan Gautam.
A minute after that, the Panthers had been on assault once more, however spectacular Chargers senior goalkeeper Aiden Scher made a diving, mid-air save to maintain the lead at 2-0.
“He made things tricky for me,” Rodriguez mentioned of Scher, a former area participant who would continuously come out of aim. “I was deciding whether to play the ball over the top or through, but he was all over the place. He was definitely difficult to get by.”
Scher, who made 12 saves, most likely got here up largest with 13:20 left within the second half when he stopped consecutive, point-blank photographs to maintain Spotswood within the recreation.
Head coach Jeff Marvinny‘s Chargers (3-2) made issues attention-grabbing simply over six minutes into the second half when Aidan Collins put a go from Kieran Barlow behind regular PDS senior goalkeeper John Mazzarisi to chop the lead in half.
Then Rodriguez noticed that he was extra wanted serving to fellow senior captains Mazzarisi and fullback Raag Desikan to ensure that the lead didn’t slip. That was a sensible choice since Spotswood despatched two photographs simply over the crossbar within the subsequent 10 minutes.
“I think we stepped off the gas a bit at the start of the second half,” Rodriguez mentioned. “Then, after about 5-10 minutes, we started to defend as a collective, and everything worked out.”
Spotswood (3-2) 0 1 — 1
PDS (2-1-1) 2 0 — 2
Targets: Collins (S), Mousa, JRodriguez (PDS); Assists: Barlow (S), Liao, Gautam (PDS).
Pictures: 9 (S), 15 (PDS); Saves: Scher 12 (S), Mazzarisi 6 (PDS).
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