Proviso West rolls over overconfident Ridgewood

One of the five players recently called up to the varsity from the lower level by Proviso West soccer coach Vic Montoya was Mario Rodriquez.

The Proviso West sophomore provided a huge lift offensively on Thursday, as Proviso West won 4-1 over Ridgewood in a nonconference game in Hillside.

Rodriquez, who was playing in just his third varsity game, scored all four goals for the Panthers.

"Right man in the right spot," Montoya said. "I wasn't expecting that kind of goal production. I don't think any coach ever does when you bring a player up."

All of the scoring for the Panthers came in the second half.

Ridgewood gained the upper hand in the second minute on a goal by Peter Soja with the assist to Mario Navarrete.

A shot by Navarrete hit the crossbar and rebounded to the foot of Soja, who had nothing in front of him but an open goal mouth.

"We spent the whole day yesterday working on defense and we give up a (quick) goal," Montoya said. "That was frustrating. I liked what I saw of the defense (the rest of the game). We need to play team defense instead of as individuals.

"We have not worked on covering on rebounds. They have a habit of becoming spectators after a shot is taken. We've been giving up way too many goals on rebounds."

The Panthers, who had 11 shots in the first half, scored the equalizer by Rodriquez in the 47th minute.

The game remained deadlocked until Rodriquez scored what turned out to the game winner in the 67th minute off a corner kick.

Rodriquez added a pair of insurance goals in the final 11 minutes.

"I felt we controlled the game in the first half," Montoya said. "I told them to just be patient. I trust their offensive skills. They understand the offensive side of the game. The biggest problem here has been playing defense."

Ridgewood coach Robert St. John said his players came in expecting to pick up an easy win over Proviso West.

"Bottom line, we played horrible," St. John said. "They came in overconfident. They thought (Proviso West) would roll over. They took it to us. They were the better team. Give them credit."

St. John said his players compared scores from games the two teams had against Elmwood Park this season, which also turned out to be a problem.

Ridgewood beat Metro Suburban Conference rival Elmwood Park, which defeated Proviso West.

"Their heads were huge," St. John said. "I warned them about taking Proviso West lightly. We're a lot better team than we showed. This isn't the kind of program we have here."