After winning the Rocket Shootout in dramatic fashion with two comeback wins against St. John’s and The Heights over the weekend, the RM boys varsity soccer team is ready to be a real threat in other team’s schedules. Despite conceding an early goal to each opponent, the team showed great resilience and their domination of both games was relentless.
St. John’s would crumble under the Rockets persistent attacks, losing their grip and allowing a 2-1 result in the end with goals coming from sophomore Jordan Walker and captain Aram Sahakyan.
Senior Alan Serrano only had positive things to take away from the game. “I was proud to be part of such a great team and play alongside such skilled athletes. Despite our losses, we are pushing forward and I know that with dedication, we can make it far.”
Although the Rockets came away with an important and uplifting win, they also suffered a devastating ankle injury to key player and senior captain Will Diaz.
Second-year Head Coach Edgar Lopez responded, saying “He will be missed by everyone, great player, but I don’t think it will impact the team at all because all players on the team are very talented. I know that the team will step up in Wilfredo’s absence.”
The Heights School would prove to be a tougher opponent, and challenged the Rockets to a better competition. However, the boys continued to push forward in attack while also playing rock solid defense until junior Andrew Lakanu gave them the lead and senior Noah Ventimiglia put the game away at 3-1 in one last push.
“I was expecting the ref to call the goal back for an offsides penalty, but it was a relief to look back and see that the ref’s flag was down. I heard the crowd cheering and saw Andre running towards me, and it was all just a lot of relief, disbelief, and happiness,” Ventimiglia had to say about the dagger.
“I also wanna thank the fans who came out and made the game a lot more fun, exciting, and motivating to be apart of,” continued the senior.
Praise also came from Coach Lopez who said, “I saw an amazing performance. The boys played very well together and worked hard for each other.”
