This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Roxborough Soccer Drops Season Opener

The Indians showed their youth, but also plenty of promise, in a 7-2 loss to Carver High School.

On one of those lazy, lovely September afternoons where a light breeze perfectly counterpoises the still hot sun, the young Roxborough Indians played and lost their first soccer match of the season, 7-2, to the Carver High School of Engineering and Science.

The Indians—many of whom were playing their first official organized soccer game—gave up four early goals, which was a deficit that proved to be too much to overcome. Though the outcome was a disappointing one for the young program ("We beat this team the last two years," coach Mark Dumsha said), it was not without its bright spots. The brightest was Ralph Martinez.

Playing his first game of organized soccer, Martinez scored twice, created several other scoring chances, and demonstrated consistently impressive—especially given his inexperience—ball-handling skills.

Find out what's happening in Roxborough-Manayunkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

His first goal happened like this: With the Indians down 5-0 and the yellow-and-black clad Engineering and Science squad swarming whatever Indian was unfortunate enough to end up with the ball, Martinez took a pass from a teammate at the quarter-mark of Carver territory, and dribbled a few times before looping a floater over and across the goaltender's arms and into the net. Goal!

The sideline cheered and high-fived, the Indians on the pitch did jumping hip checks, and everybody in navy blue got to feel good about finally putting one in the net after several near misses that they knew were more on them than their opponents.

Find out what's happening in Roxborough-Manayunkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I love Ralph," shouted a jubilant Indian as he ran along the sideline, spilling water on nearby reporters, "That boy can play!"

"It felt really good," Martinez said of his goal, before adding a gentle reminder of the extra degree of difficulty he faces. "And this is like my second game."

The Indians celebration, while exuberant, was short lived. Before they had caught their breath from all the post-score goings on, a Carver player raced down the field and punched in a goal, restoring its five-goal lead.

Several possessions later, the Indians answered back. Senior Chris Paulfield, whose steady performance provided the other bright spot for the Indians, advanced the ball gracefully up field, stalled for a moment, then rocked a crossing pass into a handful of both yellow and blue uniformed bodies that somehow found its way to the right foot of Martinez, who promptly put it into the back of the net.

The subsequent celebration was a little more subdued than the first (evidence the team is moving in the right direction), and the game ended a few minutes later after a Carver goal made it 7-2.

Despite some confusion over the final score—"It was 8-2," "No it was 5-2," argued two Indians as they stood in line to shake their opponents' hands—there was no confusion about its meaning: Roxborough has a ways to go.

"This was not as good as I thought it was going to be," said junior Joe Smoot while waiting for his coach's post-match address. "The offense was too bunched together."

Coach Dumsha repeated and elaborated on that criticism.

"We need to work on spacing, and we need to work on passing," he said, "Those are the two biggest things that are hurting us. And we didn't trap them offsides... I just expected to do a little better."

In time, those expectations might be met.

The Indians next play Sept. 21 against Boy's Latin of Philadelphia.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?