New Orleans Jesters rout Bradenton Academics 5-0 in home opener
May 15, 2010, 10:28PM
By Peter Steinbauer
The New Orleans Jesters entered their home opener Saturday night wanting to move past a bad opening-season loss. They did that with three first-half goals and a 5-0 victory against the Bradenton Academics on Saturday at Pan American Stadium.
Juan Rodriguez led the Jesters with two goals and one assist, all in the first half, and Reece Wilson had one goal and one assist. The two helped the Jesters overcome the sting of a 5-0 loss Tuesday at the Mississippi Brilla in the season opener.
"We talked about it, and none of us could come to an explanation about what happened, " Wilson said. "We just weren't right in our minds. We knew that we had the talent to play together."
New Orleans (1-1) didn't have its first practice as a team until May 8, with players arriving sporadically from college. Rodriguez and Wilson said the team needed time to gel.
"We needed to dust off that 5-0 defeat and start over, " said Rodriguez, who prepped at Bonnabel.
The Jesters controlled play from the start. New Orleans took a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute when Wilson took a crossing pass from Rodriguez and fired a goal into the top right corner.
"There was a good bit of play in the middle, " Wilson said. "When it came out to Juan on the right, I knew it was two-on-one. I thought if he got the ball to me, I could definitely score. He played a great ball, and all I could remember is celebrating."
Rodriguez gave the Jesters a 3-0 lead before halftime with two goals in the final five minutes. The first came in the 42nd minute when Rodriguez received a pass from Wilson. When Bradenton (1-1) goalie Brad Sienkiewicz came out the goal to challenge the pass, Rodriguez beat him and finished into an empty net.
"I set up an assist for Reece on the first one, and he returned it to me, " Rodriguez said. "The goalie was coming out, and I tried to toe poke it to the side, try to beat him, which I did, and then I just had to tap it in."
Rodriguez's next goal came in the 44th minute on a free kick positioned 25 yards out.
New Orleans scored its fourth goal in the 57th minute, by Roberto Rodriguez.
Grant Guthrie put the finishing touches on the victory with a goal in stoppage time in the second half. He fired a shot from 20 yards above the box past Bradenton's goalie, who was out of place.
"We sharpened up everywhere, " Jesters Coach Kenny Farrell said. "The players looked forward to this game. It was put (the loss) out of your mind and get on with it. And then we scored some very, very good goals. . . . We were moving (the ball) very quickly. It was one touch, two touch. The flow and movement was so exciting to watch."
