Rodriguez fuels Allentown to third straight win
ALLENTOWN » Now that she has opened her 2017 account, Vanessa Rodriguez feels more like the player who scored 10 times as a freshman.
The sophomore curled in a free kick from 20 yards for her side’s second goal and Allentown knocked off Steinert, 2-0, on Wednesday afternoon in a clash between two of the Colonial Valley Conference’s top girls soccer teams.
“The past couple of games, I haven’t been playing my best,” Rodriguez said. “I got so much confidence out of that.”
Emma Pascarella gave the Redbirds a 1-0 lead in the third minute after she finished off a pass from Rodriguez.
The partnership between Pascarella, a junior, and Rodriguez is still developing. They worked together last year with Rodriguez operating as either the center forward or out wide and Pascarella underneath.
Coach Kim Maurer reversed the roles to get Pascarella closer to the goal and Rodriguez the ball at her feet.
“I work well with Emma and worked well with her last year,” Rodriguez said. “The connection is still there. Our outside forwards are doing a much better job than I did, and they’ve worked so hard. It’s really fun to play with them.”
Allentown (3-0) has victories over Notre Dame, Hopewell Valley and Steinert to begin its campaign.
“We were talking about it in the locker room, it was so important,” Rodriguez said. “During the warm ups, we were so series and were going to get after it.”
The Redbirds also missed two penalties — Pascarella hit the post in the first half and Rodriguez was denied a second by Steinert goalkeeper Erika Golik late in the game — but the final result was far from comfortable.
Steinert (2-1) bossed the opening 20 minutes of the second half and should have scored an equalizer given the number of opportunities it had.
Allentown goalkeeper Abby Howell made eight of her nine saves in the second half. She came Allentown’s Carly Roche, left, kicks the ball against Steinert.
up with stops against Ashley Navarro and Michaela Miranda in a span of two minutes to keep her side in front.
“You got to finish your opportunities,” said Spartans coach Mike Hastings, who was sent to the parking lot for a second yellow card with 23 minutes remaining. “They get the early goal, and that puts us in a bind, and you try to push back to get back in the game. We just couldn’t put one in. We had a few point-blank opportunities to tie the game and get that momentum.”
Maurer was proud of the way her team matched the physical challenged Steinert presented.
“We had attitude,” Maurer said.
“We matched them, but it almost took us out of our game, being too physical. I told them at halftime, I couldn’t ask for a better effort, but soccer-wise we got to do some things better.
“The girls are confidence galore. We can’t let this make us overconfident. We’ve beat three tough opponents in a row. It’s kind of awesome. The girls deserve everything they’re getting now. I know it’s only three games in, but that felt like a county tournament game.”
Steinert (2-1) Allentown (3-0) 0 0—0 1 1—2
Pascarella, Rodriguez (A). Rodriguez (A).
13 (S). 13 (A).
Golik 3 (S). Howell 9 (A).