Raquel "Rocky" Rodríguez Cedeño[a] (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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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Raquel Rodríguez Cedeño[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 28 October 1993[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | San José, Costa Rica | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward, Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Angel City FC | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| College career | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Penn State Nittany Lions | 93 | (23) | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | Sky Blue FC | 76 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | → Perth Glory (loan) | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2023 | Portland Thorns | 56 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Angel City FC | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2010 | Costa Rica U17 | 3 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008–2012 | Costa Rica U20 | 14 | (10) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008– | Costa Rica | 107 | (58) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 June 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 June 2020 | |||||||||||||||||
Early life
editBorn 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
editRodriguez 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
editSky Blue FC, 2016–2019
editRodríguez 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
editOn 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
editOn 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–
editOn 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] Rodríguez scored her first goal for Angel City on June 19, 2024, in a 3–2 victory against Racing Louisville FC.[18]
International career
editDuring 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.[19][20] Rodriguez played in all of Costa Rica's three matches in the tournament.[21] During the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament, Rodriguez scored five goals in the three group stage matches.[22]
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.[23]
Career statistics
editInternational goals
edit
Honors and awards
editPenn State Nittany Lions
Portland Thorns FC
- NWSL Community Shield: 2020
- NWSL Challenge Cup: 2021
- International Champions Cup: 2021[24]
- NWSL Shield: 2021[25]
- NWSL Championship: 2022[26]
Individual
Notes
edit- ^ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Rodríguez and the second or maternal family name is Cedeño.
References
editExternal links
edit
- Rocky Rodriguez at the National Women's Soccer League
- Rocky Rodríguez at Angel City FC
- Raquel Rodríguez at Fedefutbol (archived) (in Spanish)
- Raquel Rodríguez – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Raquel Rodríguez at Soccerway