Raquel_Rodríguez

Rocky Rodríguez

Rocky Rodríguez

Costa Rican footballer (born 1993)

"Raquel Rodriguez" redirects here. For the wrestler, see Raquel Rodriguez (wrestler).

Raquel "Rocky" Rodríguez Cedeño[lower-alpha 1] (born 28 October 1993) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League and the Costa Rica women's national team.

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Early life

Born in San José, Costa Rica to Sivianni Rodriguez and Grettel Cedeño,[2] Rodriguez, nicknamed Rocky, was raised in Costa Rica and moved to the United States where support for women's soccer offered more opportunity.[3][4] Her father, Sivianni Rodríguez, played professionally in Costa Rica with Herediano and the Costa Rica national football team.[5]

Rodriquez began playing soccer at age four and played on boys teams and trained with her brother and father as a youth. At age 11, her cousin told her one of the well-known men's club teams was holding tryouts for a women's team. After trying out, she played for the team's under-15 team.[5] She played for the high school team while still attending elementary school.[5] Both Raquel and her brother, Sivianni, attended International Christian School.[5] She played for the school's team for a short while before committing to play for Costa Rica's national teams.[5]

Penn State, 2012–2015

Rodriguez was a four-year starter for the Penn State Nittany Lions.[2] As the 2015 team captain, she led her team to victory at the NCAA College Cup by scoring the game-winning goal against the Duke Blue Devils.[6] Rodriguez received numerous awards in 2015, including NSCAA Scholar Player of the Year, Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Year, and she was the 2015 recipient of the Mac Herman Trophy.[2] As a senior, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top soccer player.[7][8]

Club career

Sky Blue FC, 2016–2019

Rodríguez was selected second overall by Sky Blue FC in the 2016 NWSL College Draft.[9] In her rookie season, she scored 1 goal in 18 matches, and at the end of the season was named NWSL Rookie of the Year.[10] In the 2017 season, Rodríguez scored the fastest goal in NWSL history, netting 24 seconds from kick-off against Portland Thorns FC.[11]

Perth Glory, 2017

On 12 October 2017, Rodríguez joined Perth Glory for the 2017–18 W-League season. Rodríguez is the first Central American ever to play in the W-League.[12]

Portland Thorns FC, 2020–2023

On 8 January 2020, Rodríguez was traded to Portland Thorns FC.[13] During the 2020 season, Rodriguez scored 1 goal. During the 2021 season, she scored 2 goals. During the 2022 season, she scored 3 goals. [14]

Angel City FC, 2024–

On January 23, 2024, Angel City FC announced they had acquired Rodríguez from the Portland Thorns in exchange for $275,000 in allocation money, with additional conditional funds to be paid against the transfer fee threshold.[15] After missing the first two games of the season due to concussion protocol, Rodríguez made her debut for Angel City on March 30, 2024 in a match against Kansas City Current. She came on a substitute for Amandine Henry and came close to scoring her first goal for Angel City to tie the game at 3–3, but was the goal was ultimately disallowed after a VAR check, and the match ended as a 4–2 defeat.[16] Rodríguez started her first match the following match day on April 13, 2024 against the Chicago Red Stars which finished as a 0–1 victory, the teams first win of the season.[17]

International career

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Rodriguez scored Costa Rica's first ever Women's World Cup goal during the opening Group Stage match against Spain, which ended 1–1.[18][19] Rodriguez played in all of Costa Rica's three matches in the tournament.[20] During the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament, Rodriguez scored five goals in the three group stage matches.[21]

Rodriguez was selected for the roster for the inaugural 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup where she played every minute before Costa Rica were ultimately defeated in the quarterfinals by Canada.[22]

Career statistics

International goals

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Honors and awards

Penn State Nittany Lions

Portland Thorns FC

Individual

Notes

  1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Rodríguez and the second or maternal family name is Cedeño.

References

  1. [1]
    "List of Players – 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  2. [2]
    "Raquel Rodríguez Bio". GoPSUsports.com. Penn State Athletics. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. [3]
    "Raquel 'Rocky' Rodriguez has plans beyond soccer". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  4. [4]
    "Women's soccer: How Sky Blue's Raquel Rodríguez fought for a dream for all of Costa Rica". Excelle Sports. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. [5]
    Lee, Allison (24 May 2016). "Raquel Rodríguez's journey to the NWSL anything but typical". Once A Metro. SB Nation.
  6. [6]
    "Penn State wins the 2015 DI Women's Soccer Championship". NCAA.com. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  7. [7]
    "Rodriguez nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year | News, Sports, Jobs". The Express. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  8. [8]
    "Raquel Rodríguez of Penn State Named Honda Sports Award Winner for Women's Soccer". CWSA. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  9. [9]
    Scavuzzo, Diane (31 January 2016). "Sky Blue's Raquel Rodriguez - A Dream Comes True". GoalNation. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  10. [10]
    "Raquel Rodriguez voted NWSL Rookie of the Year". FourFourTwo. 3 October 2016. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  11. [11]
    Forrester, Nick (21 June 2017). "Sky Blue FC's Raquel Rodriguez goal confirmed as fastest in NWSL history". Excelle Sports. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  12. [12]
    "Glory add Costa Rican international for new season". Perth Glory. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  13. [13]
    "Sky Blue FC Acquires Margaret 'Midge' Purce from Portland Thorns FC". Sky Blue FC. 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020.
  14. [14]
    "National Women's Soccer League Official Site | NWSL". www.nwslsoccer.com.
  15. [15]
    "Angel City FC acquire midfielder Raquel "Rocky" Rodriguez via trade with Portland Thorns - Angels on Parade". angelsonparade.com. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  16. [16]
    "Kansas City Current 4-2 Angel City FC (Mar 30, 2024) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  17. [17]
    "National Women's Soccer League Official Site | NWSL". www.nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  18. [18]
    "World Cup: Costa Rica and Spain settle for draw, 1–1". Los Angeles Times. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  19. [19]
    "Entertaining battle sees debutants draw". FIFA. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  20. [20]
    "FIFA player's stats". FIFA. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  21. [21]
    "Costa Rica joins U.S. women's national team in CONCACAF semifinals". espnW. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  22. [22]
    "Game Details". Concacaf. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  23. [23]
    Snipes, Tyler (22 August 2021). "The Portland Thorns are WICC Champions!". International Champions Cup.
  24. [24]
    "NWSL RECAP | Thorns claim 2021 NWSL Shield with 1-0 road win over Houston Dash | PTFC".
  25. [25]
    Azzi, Alex (30 October 2022). "Portland Thorns win 2022 NWSL Championship, MVP Smith scores game winner". On Her Turf. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  26. [26]
    "SKY BLUE FC'S RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ VOTED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR | National Women's Soccer League". 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
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