Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jonathan Quartuccio Victoria Rodriguez

Victoria Rodriguez has been playing soccer since the days of coloring in Donald Duck's hat with a Robin's Egg Blue Crayola crayon. "I played all year round," says Rodriguez. "Soccer kept me so busy that I never had time to do anything else. I never even touched any other sport." So then what is it like for Rodriguez to watch her teammates play the sport she loves while she is watching from the sidelines?

Rodriguez grew up playing soccer with her sister in Queens. Her sister, Tina, is now a senior soccer player at UMass Amherst. After visiting schools like Southern Connecticut, Stonybrook, and UMass Lowell, Rodriguez chose to come to Pace after visiting with the coaches and instantly falling in love with her teammates.

"I had a really fun recruiting trip with the girls and I liked the location and the campus being on two locations," said Rodriguez.

After successful freshman and sophomore seasons, capped by a game winning goal against then undefeated UMass Lowell, Rodriguez was excited for another good campaign going into her junior year.

Rodriguez has consistently played soccer since the beginning of elementary school. But when she tore her ACL on the first day of classes just a few weeks ago, all of that changed.

Rodriguez was at practice when she pivoted her left foot wrong and felt a twinge in her left knee. She didn't really believe that anything was serious and even told the rest of her teammates that she was fine and she would be able to play within a few days. But after hearing how grave the situation was, Rodriguez understood that her season was over and that she would be red-shirting this season.

"It is incredibly hard for me to watch and not have an impact on the team to help out the girls," said Rodriguez. "My job now is to show my support and dedication to the girls by being with them as often as possible."

Rodriguez' job has now shifted from the role of player with on-the-field direction to a player with guidance and coaching. With a young team and a new head coach in JR Pouncey, Rodriguez knows the difficulties in getting through a losing season.

"I hope that JR and the girls can get through this season as successful as possible while preparing for next season," said Rodriguez. "We are a really young team with a lot of freshmen. Since this season has been kind of rocky, I think one of our main goals is to make the freshmen feel they are an essential part of the team and next season they can really make a difference."

With five North-East 10 Conference games remaining, the Setters can still end the season on a positive note. Rodriguez really just wants the girls be happy and to not give up on the rest of the season. She sees certain games that are good opportunities for potential wins, and wants the rest of her teammates to not be distracted and be focused solely on playing well and being respectable.

Rodriguez is an extremely passionate and driven person. She goes out 100 percent with everything she does whether it is soccer, her classes, or her being with her family and friends. She wants her enthusiasm and passion to extend to her teammates as well.

"I hope the girls can look at me as a leader and that they see that I am not giving up and what attitude they should have for the rest of their time here," commented Rodriguez. "I know that I am going to work hard to get back at 100 percent. Soccer is fun for me. I hope my teammates never lose sight of that."

Victoria Rodriguez's Favorite Things

Food - Steak
Cartoon - Family Guy
Sport to play other than soccer - Golf
Sport to watch other than soccer - Football
Bottled water brand - Aquafina
Way to tan yourself - At the beach
Person you'd want to be in a fox hole with - Jack Bauer
About Ivan G. Seidenberg - The money gave
About the month of October - Halloween
Musical artist - Nelly Furtado
Guy's hair style - Fade
Movie you have seen in the past year - Transformers
Vegetable - Carrot
Person to be with at Pace - Amy Rinehart
About Al Gore - The movie he made
Curse word - F**k stick
Way to express yourself - Dancing
About Carrot Top - That he doesn't get much time on air
Battle movie - Braveheart
About the Mississippi River - Learning to spell it
Recent Facebook application - Family Guy application
Condiment - Ketchup
Borough - Queens

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