Finally, Rams advance

Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005

The Rockville High boys soccer team shed its playoff jinx Saturday afternoon at home in Good Stadium when it used goals from their top scorer and from the greenest of newcomers to top Carroll County’s Century, 2-1, in a Class 2A West Region semifinal.

Junior Alex Goycochea netted his team-best 14th goal of the year, sophomore Fabian Aguila scored on his third day as a member of the varsity, and the Rams held off Century’s second-half comeback to advance to the regional championship against Liberty.

For Rockville, the win came on the heel of losses in the semifinals to Liberty in 2003 and 2004. Coach Abdel Makhlouf said finally advancing to the final was big.

‘‘Today was a great day for us. We always stumble in the semifinal,” he said. ‘‘We go through the first round. And then we meet Liberty, and we stumble.”

With its 12th win this season, Rockville (12-4-0) finally made it to the championship game and took on the all-too-familiar foe: the reigning regional title-holder, Liberty.

In Saturday’s semifinal, Rockville surged ahead of Century in the first half on a pair of goals that were mirror images of each other. Both featured throw-in assists from senior co-captain Tim Poulin.

Four minutes into a scoreless game, Poulin heaved a long throw-in directly in front of the net. Aguila burst through two defenders and as soon as the ball came down, he quickly converted it to give Rockville the lead, 1-0.

Poulin said Century had scouted Rockville thoroughly and knew where he’d place the ball, but he threw it to the far post anyway. His throw found Aguila, playing just his second game on varsity.

Aguila said the move up brought out his best.

‘‘I love pressure,” he said. ‘‘I play so good under pressure. It’s weird because on J.V., I had the most goals for our team, but I didn’t play as good as I do now. Now, I just play so much better.”

In the 32nd minute, Poulin did it again — throwing from the same spot. This time, he fired it low and hard, and Goycochea took it and slotted home his second goal of the playoffs for a 2-0 lead. But Century shut down the Rams’ other crucial offensive star, Eduardo Flores, who is second on the team in goals.

‘‘What I like about it is that other players stepped in and scored,” Makhlouf said.

Now trailing, 2-0, the Knights made a forcible rush once the second half opened, and junior midfielder Josh Meyer scored just four minutes after halftime. Junior midfielder Jeff Hohl intercepted a pass and broke free along the left end of Rockville’s box and fed Meyer for the goal. The Knights had cut the Rams’ lead in half, and 36 minutes were still on the clock.

Down by a goal, Century controlled the action for most of the early part of the second half. Head coach Steve Smith said he changed their formation by adding forwards, and it quickly made a difference.

‘‘We tried to bypass the midfield,” he said. ‘‘It worked to our benefit at times, and at times, they transitioned and counter-attacked the same way.”

Rockville’s decisive counter came in the 68th minute. Century had a corner-kick, but Flores emerged out of the box with the ball and raced the length of the field alongside the benches. Goycochea sprinted across the middle of the field, took a centering pass from Flores and shot for the net.

Goalie Patrick McLeod made a diving save to keep it a 2-1 game, but from that point on, momentum swung back in Rockville’s favor with a handful of close shots in the final 10 minutes. In the 70th minute, McLeod leaped from his box to grab a throw-in, but it eluded him. While he rolled over the field, Goycochea tried a hurried shot to no avail. Less than a minute later, McLeod dove in protection of the net and wound up seizing the loose ball by scissoring his legs.