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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rochester 13, North Miami 3 (Thursday)
Zach Pickens scored a school-record seven goals, and Wade Shafer added a school-record nine assists to lead the Rochester boys soccer team to a 13-3 win over host North Miami Thursday.
RHS improved to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.
Mitchell Shafer added a hat trick, and Layne Backus also scored twice for the Zebras. Freshman Erik Eikenberry also scored.
Pickens had two assists, and Parker Wallace contributed an assist.
Wallace had four saves, and Brock Bickle had three.
RHS led 4-1 at halftime before scoring nine more times in the second half.
Manchester 3, Rochester 0 (Tuesday)
The Zebras were shut out in their home opener to defending TRC and sectional champion Manchester at Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex Tuesday.
Freshman goalkeeper Parker Wallace had 15 saves for the Zebras (1-1, 1-1 TRC).
“Today was more about us not playing well than them being good,” RHS coach Trevor Brown said. “They’re a good team, but we just came out soft. We came out scared. It’s our second game of the season, and it’s their (10th). But we’re a young team, and we just came out flat, and it had more to do with us not playing well than anything else. It’s on us.”
Nathaniel Miller and Logan Bishop scored for the Squires, who led 2-0 at halftime.
Manchester had an 18-4 advantage in shots on goal and a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.
Brown wants better intensity moving forward.
“We just have a lot of young guys and a lot of guys in new spots,” Brown said. “I think Saturday (a 3-0 win at Wabash), we came out and everybody was super excited. Today we just came out soft. What I would like to see us improve on is we’ve got to win balls in the air. We can’t let balls drop in the box.
“We’ve got to talk more. It was just so quiet, just lack of communication. It was a lot of little things, and that will come with time.”
