Hub senior Josue Orozco has high expectations for his final high school season with the Rochelle varsity soccer team. The talented forward opened his senior season with a tremendous offensive performance on Wednesday, scoring four goals including two in each half to lead Rochelle over Aurora Christian 6-1 in the first round of the War on 34 Championship.
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EARLVILLE — Hub senior Josue Orozco has high expectations for his final high school season with the Rochelle varsity soccer team. The talented forward opened his senior season with a tremendous offensive performance on Wednesday, scoring four goals including two in each half to lead Rochelle over Aurora Christian 6-1 in the first round of the War on 34 Championship.
Taking the field for the first time in nearly two years, Orozco broke the first-round match open during the 13th minute, finessing his way around the Aurora Christian defense and rolling a right-footed ball into the net to put the Hubs ahead 1-0. Orozco capitalized on another scoring chance shortly after, sending a left-footed free kick over the Eagle defensive wall and bending the ball into the back of the goal, giving Rochelle a 2-0 advantage during the 15th minute.
“It feels good to be back,” Orozco said. “I’ve been working hard during practice and I’m giving everything I have. We want to make it back to the regional finals, but we need to stick together and work hard every day. I want to score more goals than any player in RTHS history.”
Some miscommunication on defense hurt the Hubs during the 20th minute, when Aurora Christian netted its first goal of the match to make it a 2-1 contest. Rochelle responded with plenty of pressure on offense, though, resulting in an own goal by the Eagles during the 28th minute that was credited to Hub midfielder Diego Cincire. Leading 3-1, Rochelle surged ahead in the 34th minute, when sophomore Eli Luxton booted in a penalty kick after a foul in the box.
Orozco claimed both of the Rochelle goals during the second half, scoring in the 41st and 45th minutes on assists from Luxton and junior Christian Harding. Junior Jarret Milan recorded four saves for the Hubs (1-0), who will play for the tournament championship on Saturday.
“We wanted to start fast and we were on them from the first touch,” senior defender Bryce Whitehead said. “We’ve been doing a lot of conditioning during practice and it’s been tough, but our conditioning is paying off. We’re a younger team this season, but we have players back who are doing a lot for us. We want to go as hard as we can and win every game we play.”
