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Jellison, Aguilar-Mendez add PK goals in the second half
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Jonathan Pacheco scored two goals, and Rowan Jellison and Edgar Aguilar-Mendez each scored on penalty kicks in the second half to lead the Caston boys soccer team to a 4-2 win over host Rochester at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex Thursday.
Caston improved to 1-2.
R.J. Keranko scored his second goal of the season for Rochester, who fell to 0-3.
Rochester scored first with 36:44 left in the first half on a Caston own goal when a Carlos Placsencia crossing pass in the box deflected off a Caston defender and eluded goalkeeper Brock Hook.
Caston then scored four unanswered goals.
Pacheco scored the equalizer with 17:04 left in the first half. Isaac Craig feathered a pass to Pacheco, who was one-versus-one with Rochester goalkeeper Parker Wallace in the box and delivered a technical finish from point-blank range.
Jellison’s penalty kick came after a Rochester hand ball in the box off a Caston corner kick with 38:55 left and gave Caston a 2-1 lead.
Caston’s third goal came after Wallace got a hand on Jellison’s high-arching 40-yard shot from the right flank. After Wallace deflected the shot, the ball deflected off the crossbar, and Pacheco ran it down in the box to Wallace’s right.
Wallace stopped Pacheco’s first shot, but Pacheco pounced on his own rebound and scored past an out-of-position Wallace into an open net.
Aguilar-Mendez scored with 15:21 left on a penalty kick after another hand ball in the box.
Caston had been outscored 14-0 in back-to-back losses to Maconaquah and Tippecanoe Valley to start the season but broke out Thursday.
Caston coach Narciso Sanchez said that the passing – specifically, the passing between the defenders and the front line players – was more effective than in previous games.
“Well, I think it took awhile to register that we had scored, but over time, they were able to put some passes together and formulate some attacks into that offensive third, and ultimately we were able to pull some goals to get out of here with a ‘W,’” Sanchez said.
Keranko scored on a penalty kick after Caston was called for a hand ball in the box with 7:23 left.
Rochester first-year coach Eric Backus said the team came out flat in the second half. He said he talked to the team afterwards about staying positive.
“We’ve got to figure out what to do from halftime and translate it into the second half and get better,” Backus said. “We saw a lot of positive stuff tonight. In the first half, we were possessing. We were making good passes. We were dropping, switching field. It looked good. And then I don’t know if our kids were gassed just a little bit or what, but by the second half, we kind of fell apart and started playing kickball. We allowed a little bit of negativity to go to our heads, and it turned the game.”
