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Davis, Krom, Tindi also score for Zebras
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
FULTON — Carlos Plascencia scored twice, and Wyatt Davis added a goal and two assists as the Rochester boys soccer team beat host Caston 5-1 for their first win of the season Thursday.
Alex Craig scored Caston’s first goal of the season, flipping a shot over Rochester goalkeeper Parker Wallace’s head with 35:57 left in the first half.
The Zebras countered with five unanswered goals. Brayden Krom and Rabuor Tindi also scored for Rochester, who improved to 1-1.
Caston fell to 0-2.
Davis tied the game with a goal from the right flank with 6:12 left in the half. Plascencia scored on a direct kick 2:18 later to give Rochester their first lead at 2-1.
Davis outhustled Caston goalkeeper Lane Halterman to a 50-50 ball and fed Krom, who booted in a one-timer from 18 yards out to make it 3-1 with 23:42 left.
A low Plascencia shot beat Halterman for Rochester’s fourth goal with 11:38 left.
Tindi scored on a run down the middle of the pitch from 15 yards out to complete the scoring with 4:30 left.
The game was scheduled for 5 p.m. but did not start until 6 p.m. due to lightning. The teams had been warming up when a thunderstorm hit the field.
Caston then scored first when Jan Aguilar-Mendez fed Craig in open space.
“I think that little lightning delay took our mindset out of actually playing soccer,” Rochester coach Eric Backus said. “We started, and we looked very, very intense in our first warm-up session, and then we had a 45-minute lightning delay, and the kids were goofing off a little bit, and I think you could tell at the beginning of that game they looked like they weren’t ready to play soccer. And it showed because Caston was taking shots on goal and moving the ball on us and finding openings, and we were pretty flat-footed. So we weren’t very happy with about the first 15 minutes of that game. Then we settled down, and I thought we started playing a little bit better.”
The sequence of play for Davis’ equalizer started with a throw-in from Krom that was deflected right back to him. He fed Davis with a through ball, who fired a shot in the upper left corner of the net past Halterman.
Plascencia’s goal came on a direct kick from 35 yards out. A sophomore, Plascencia said he’s worked on that shot “over and over” since he was a fourth-grader.
Plascencia hurt his left leg earlier in the game and sat out briefly before impacting the game upon his return.
“A few weeks ago, I sprained my right (ankle), so my mom told me to get a brace for my left one too because I got one for my right, and I told her, ‘Nah, I don’t think I’ll need it,’ and what do you know?” Plascencia said. “I needed it.”
The second half was a disappointment, according to Caston coach Olman Sanchez.
“I would say the first 15 minutes of the game, it was good, and we were executing well, and I thought we caught that keeper a little too high, and Alex was able to chip him and put it in the back of the net,” Caston coach Olman Sanchez said. “I think that second half, maybe there was a switch mentally where I felt like they were thinking more about not wanting to lose and instead of going out there after the ball.”
In his second season as coach, Backus emphasized a better first touch and better conditioning during the offseason.
“We really concentrated our first two-and-a-half weeks on getting our cardio up,” Backus said. “The kids didn’t like it at all, but I just kept reassuring them that this will pay off, and it will cause us to win games instead of lose games.”
Still, Backus said his team is having a lot more fun this year.
Asked about this, Plascencia replied, “For sure.”
“It’s just more fun playing with teammates, playing this game,” Plascencia said. “Soccer is just fun, you know. … Last year, we could only last like one half. Now we can last two. It’s pretty fun.”
Rochester played without Brock Bickle (not enough practices), Spencer Backus (back) and Evan Rudd (illness). Freshman Camdyn Furnivall was in the lineup.
Caston started two freshmen – strikers Drew McGrew and Myles Sherrick.
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