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WSOC HC Margaret Rodriquez · Coaches Corner

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  Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Bob Joyce and this is a Coaches
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  Speaker 1: Corner podcast on thee HUSKYHQ dot com. And you probably,
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  Speaker 1: if you're a Yukon fan, know that all of the
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  Speaker 1: fall sports, both soccer teams, field hockey, volleyball off the
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  Speaker 1: tremendous starts. And today we're talking to Margaret Rodriguez, the
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  Speaker 1: seventh year head coach of women's soccer, who after a
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  Speaker 1: tie and a loss to open the season and reeled
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  Speaker 1: off six straight games hitting in the Biggies Play, which
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  Speaker 1: starts on Sunday. And Margaret, coming off a really good
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  Speaker 1: year last year where you lost to Georgetown in the
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  Speaker 1: Big Ee semifinals, I would imagine with what you knew
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  Speaker 1: what was coming back on the roster, Yeah, probably had
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good feeling that this could be a good year.
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  Speaker 1: So far, though it's lived up to the billing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I think we felt pretty confident coming into
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  Speaker 2: this year. The team on paper was going to be
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  Speaker 2: a strong team, and then you know, on paper is
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  Speaker 2: one thing, and then actually seeing it come to fruition
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  Speaker 2: is another thing. I Mean, there's a lot of other
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  Speaker 2: things that go involved with just X and x's and o's.
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  Speaker 2: You want our seniors to be confident. You want to
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  Speaker 2: be healthy, right, and then you got to just get
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  Speaker 2: the team to believe that this team can win it all.
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  Speaker 2: And I just think we're just coming together really well,
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  Speaker 2: and we're seeing the ball go in the back of
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  Speaker 2: the net and we're securing the defense defensive side of
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  Speaker 2: the game.
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  Speaker 1: So it's a good.
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  Speaker 2: Start for this group.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, after a two two tie and a two to
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  Speaker 1: one loss to open the season, you've only allowed two
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  Speaker 1: goals during the six game win streak. So let's give
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  Speaker 1: credit where credits due. It's not just the goalie Caitlyn Mahoney,
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  Speaker 1: she's been really good, but that back line has been good.
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  Speaker 1: Who have been some of the stalwarts back there for you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, our back line has been just impressive right now.
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, we actually move Lucy Cappadonna, who's been,
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  Speaker 2: you know, kind of our steady person in the back
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  Speaker 2: last year. We moved her up into the midfield at
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  Speaker 2: the beginning of the season because we lost one of
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  Speaker 2: our midfielders to the to the World Cup with the
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  Speaker 2: U two World Cup with the Canadian national team, so
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  Speaker 2: we had to make some adjustments. But are probably the
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  Speaker 2: one that's been stepping up. The biggest is Anna Carson.
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  Speaker 2: She was a transfer in last year due to nca
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  Speaker 2: A kind of really just stealing here. A bad card
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  Speaker 2: in the two time transfer rule denied her ability to
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  Speaker 2: play last fall, and then in the spring kind of
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  Speaker 2: let everyone else play. So she got a little crewed there,
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  Speaker 2: which we're unfortunate, but she is. She is probably our
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  Speaker 2: most consistent player in the back line and doing a
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  Speaker 2: great job. Lacy Lewis on the right side. She's been
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  Speaker 2: just a beast on both sides of the ball, defensively
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  Speaker 2: and on the attacking side. So I think credit is
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  Speaker 2: due for the entire back line that's been stepping up
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  Speaker 2: for us. They've done a phenomenal job.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you mentioned Lucy Cappadona going to midfield, and the
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  Speaker 1: young lady who played on the Canada U twenty team
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  Speaker 1: is an Ayah Johnson. You have Abbie Mills in the
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  Speaker 1: Abbie Jones in the middle, and you have a outstanding
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  Speaker 1: freshman from a Milford by the way of Saint Joseph
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  Speaker 1: Trumbull in Taylor Jenkins. How good has this midfield been
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  Speaker 1: for you this year?
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  Speaker 2: Our midfield actually has been one of our frustrations points
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  Speaker 2: in the beginning of the year and even through our wins.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've been grinding out our wins, but our
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  Speaker 2: midfield's been the area that we've been focused on most,
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  Speaker 2: just to try to trying to get them to defend
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  Speaker 2: a little bit better as a unit and create some
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  Speaker 2: attacking moments for us. And we're bringing back our Canadian
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  Speaker 2: and Ayah Johnson. Our last game against Wisconsin just secured
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  Speaker 2: our midfield up of what we've been working towards. So
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  Speaker 2: it is our strongest part of our team. Our midfield.
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  Speaker 2: It's been sort of a working progress to get it
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  Speaker 2: to where we believe it can be. And I think
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  Speaker 2: our game against Texas A and M, we had four
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  Speaker 2: midfielders score for us, So I think it's a really
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  Speaker 2: good showing for our mystfield group. As you know, the
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  Speaker 2: season grew into it, they finally stepped up and did
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  Speaker 2: their jobs. So it's a great group.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned beating Texas A and M six zip.
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  Speaker 1: First time in almost twenty years you've scored six goals
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  Speaker 1: in a game at home, But that game escalated quickly.
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  Speaker 1: What did I see four goals in about ten minutes?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think you know, we had our minds
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  Speaker 2: ready for this game. We felt we were the better
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  Speaker 2: soccer team. They definitely are athletic. We respected them for
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  Speaker 2: the results that they've done last year and in the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of this year, but we knew coming into this
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  Speaker 2: game we were going to be the better team and
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  Speaker 2: it's just a matter of our team playing to our
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  Speaker 2: full potential. Started off, I think Maddie got us a
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  Speaker 2: goal within the first ten minutes, and after that it
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  Speaker 2: was like open floodgates, so we just kept pouring it
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  Speaker 2: on entering into half three nothing.
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  Speaker 1: I felt we.
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  Speaker 2: Had the ability to be up at halftime, but to
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  Speaker 2: actually see it happened was It just gave our team
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  Speaker 2: a little nod of confidence and belief that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we could take care of this game and hopefully it'll
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  Speaker 2: bode well for us in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Margaret Rodriguez, better known as Mags, the women's soccer coach
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  Speaker 1: at Yukon, with us here for a few more minutes
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  Speaker 1: chioma Oca. For normally we would lead off with a
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  Speaker 1: player like that. Defense has been so good, but she
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  Speaker 1: almost already has matched her goal total from all of
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  Speaker 1: last year. She has scored six goals already. First Team
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  Speaker 1: All Conference, third Team All American. Where have you seen
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  Speaker 1: this young lady improve?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I honestly think she's improved in just her
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  Speaker 2: production in front of net. The kid is an unbelievable
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  Speaker 2: athletic spession. And she's our most athletic player I've ever had.
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  Speaker 2: She's our most fit player we've ever had. She's healthy
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  Speaker 2: right now. Last year she played all year on a
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  Speaker 2: broken foot, so she made thirteen All American with a
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  Speaker 2: broken foot. She is. She's kind of a player that
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  Speaker 2: I've never had before. She's so coachable, so willing to
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  Speaker 2: learn and grow and work with a team around her.
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  Speaker 2: But her biggest growth this year has been just being
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  Speaker 2: a little cleaner in front of the box, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: serving a final ball or putting a ball on the
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  Speaker 2: back of the net. And you're seeing her stat line.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's probably the from you know, the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of last year to where we are today. This is
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  Speaker 2: that's been her groa growth.
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  Speaker 1: What about young talent, I know you've got some anybody
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  Speaker 1: stand out, like I suremar toing me the freshman, I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about our freshman.
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  Speaker 2: I mean Taylor Jenkins coming in. She comes off the
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  Speaker 2: bench for us to me, if you start the half
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  Speaker 2: or finish the half. I value them the exact same,
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  Speaker 2: just getting the kids to understand that, you know, maybe
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  Speaker 2: not starting is okay. But she comes on about the
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  Speaker 2: twenty minute mark into our half and finishes off the half.
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  Speaker 2: She's so strong, she's so athletic, she's a beast in
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  Speaker 2: the air. The kid is going to be someone to
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  Speaker 2: take notice. If not this year, consistently, over the next
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  Speaker 2: couple of years, she's going to be. I would be
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  Speaker 2: shocked if she doesn't make you know, her headway into
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  Speaker 2: the Biggies conference standings this year after her nya Osio's
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  Speaker 2: from Spain. She's a freshman coming in up top for us.
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  Speaker 2: Her only challenge is, you know, she comes in for
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  Speaker 2: chioma sometimes, so's have to take that kid off the bench.
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  Speaker 2: But when Nya Osios depth on the field, she's about
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  Speaker 2: six feet tall. She has a different skill set that
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  Speaker 2: we haven't had before. Her ability in the air and
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  Speaker 2: her ability to be just really clinical in front of
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  Speaker 2: the goal is impressive. So we're just growing her. But
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  Speaker 2: I think she's really going to come into her own
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  Speaker 2: over the next couple of years. With Taylor Jenkins, the
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  Speaker 2: two make a really good accommodation.
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  Speaker 1: Non conference schedules, some traditional local rivals, but now you
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  Speaker 1: added Wisconsin, an NCAA tournament team, cal State Fullerton came
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  Speaker 1: from on the West coast A and m was an
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  Speaker 1: NCAA tournament team. Is this something that you wanted to
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  Speaker 1: do add some maybe some stronger competition early on to
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  Speaker 1: bolster up that RPI for the postseason.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. I think last year we felt
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  Speaker 2: we were a little short changed at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the year getting into the ENSA playoffs. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: do feel if we had one more chance that a
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  Speaker 2: top fifty team we would have I think solidified our
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  Speaker 2: chances to get in. So our goal this year, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we build our schedule two years out. We knew this
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  Speaker 2: team was mature enough. We've got eleven seniors on the field.
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  Speaker 2: We knew this team was going to be matured enough
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  Speaker 2: to handle a bigger schedule, and ultimately we needed to
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  Speaker 2: increase our chances to kind of build a resume to
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  Speaker 2: get into that DUBA tournament. Bringing in Wisconsin was huge
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  Speaker 2: to get them to come here, and then we lost
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  Speaker 2: two to one. I felt that, you know, even the
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  Speaker 2: loss doesn't hurt, but it builds our conference, you know, like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we could compete with this group, no problem. And then
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  Speaker 2: Cal State Fulltoom was just an out of region, a
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  Speaker 2: different opponent. We know they typically always schedule a very
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  Speaker 2: hard non conference slate, so we felt it would really
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  Speaker 2: boost our RPI if we get a result there, which
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  Speaker 2: we did, and then yeah, Texas A and M to
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  Speaker 2: kind of cap off the non conference slate. The only
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  Speaker 2: caveat with Texas A and M was we have to
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  Speaker 2: return to them next year. So it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: an interesting return because I know they're going to be
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  Speaker 2: out for blood when we play them.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that in another sports too, we cover
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  Speaker 1: here all right. Now, the Big East schedule begin Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: You go to Saint John's Thursday, at Xavier next weekend,
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  Speaker 1: it's Georgetown. Not the easiest start to the Big East
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  Speaker 1: slate for your team, but a good test.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think anyway you look at it, it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be. Big East is hard emotionally, mentally, it's a
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  Speaker 2: much different games than you're doing in your non conference games.
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  Speaker 2: So I think you want to spread out, you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe Xavier, Georgetown, Saint John's, but I think i'd rather
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  Speaker 2: take them when we're fresh and you know, we know
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  Speaker 2: we how to be on the road to Saint John's
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  Speaker 2: and Xager, so I'd rather play them a little bit
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  Speaker 2: when we're fresh early in the season and then hopefully
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  Speaker 2: coming to the end of the season taking care of
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  Speaker 2: you know, maybe the games that we do feel a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more easier to win, like a to Paul
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  Speaker 2: or a Villanova. So yeah, it's a tough, tough first
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  Speaker 2: three games, but might as well see what we got
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  Speaker 2: early in the conference, right and the.
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  Speaker 1: Only focus right now is Sunday afternoon on Long Island.
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  Speaker 1: Mag As always appreciated a few minutes of your time
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  Speaker 1: and the best of luck of the big EE season
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  Speaker 1: and be nice and be good on Adam. Okay, take
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  Speaker 1: care of him in the booth, will do?
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate the coverage, Bob.
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  Speaker 1: That's Margaret Rodriguez, the seventh season head coach of Yukon
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  Speaker 1: women's soccer. But basically she's been a lifer. She played
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  Speaker 1: for Len Santarras, she was an assistant under Len Santarras,
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  Speaker 1: and now she's trying to guide the Huskies back to
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  Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament. Thanks for tuning in here to the
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  Speaker 1: HUSKYHQ dot com. This Coaches Corner Podcast I'm Bob Joyce