Rowan men’s soccer won their first game of the season with a 6-1 victory, playing in the second game of Salisbury’s Elmer Lord Memorial Tournament on the back of Johnny Troiano’s hat-trick on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Jason Barragan’s two assists on the first two goals led to an explosion from the projected No. 2 ranked Profs in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC).  

“They always make runs behind so it’s kind of easy to just put it in their space,” Barragan said. “They’re both fast so it’s really just putting it into space and hoping they get on it so they can finish. They both had great shots.”

Troiano and Ryan Cleary scored the first two goals on the Barragan assists, jumping out to the early 2-0 lead that Rowan would never lose.  

“I just went down the line and they couldn’t handle it,” Troiano said. “Once we got going they were all over the place. Then it was one, two, three, four, five, and even six.”

Barragan takes pride in being able to find open men and set up opportunities for shots on goal. He believes that kind of unselfishness is what can make a good team great.

“For sure,” Barragan said. “I think, personally growing up I always would rather have assists than goals. I’d rather help the team out first.”

After a tough loss in game one of the season and the Salisbury tournament, the big performance in game two helped the team put into perspective their goals for the season.

“It can [help the mindset],” Head Coach Scott Baker said. “We’ll see moving forward. If you have a group that comes out and they’re focused every day, they’re allowed to have a bad day. That one was a little bit more disappointing because they didn’t have the mindset that they needed to. We’ll have to see, but if we have a good game, then a bad game, and then a good game, then we’ll look back and say this group didn’t have it.”

Baker has high expectations and believes this team can make a run at the national championship. The mindset needed for such a run does not go unnoticed by Baker, as he sees the first weekend as a stepping stone for the rest of the season.

“That day and Johnny’s efforts and hat-trick on the day were great,” Baker said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t erase the game before that. We didn’t come out mentally ready and didn’t get the effort that it takes. The win was great, but it was hard that it was the day after a bad letdown.”

After missing the national tournament and losing in the NJAC Championship, the Profs know what is required of them to rectify the wrongs that happened towards the end of the season a year ago.  

“Hopefully just doing a lot better than last season,” Barragan said. “We didn’t make the NCAA so that was a pretty tough pill to swallow. Obviously, we got the loss out of the way so we can just progress and take it out early. We’ll just focus on our next few games. I’m just excited with the group, we’re all experienced so hopefully we can go forward with that.”

It’s not just about the players that have had good games to this point. Baker is looking for the whole group to improve and show why they are national contenders, not just NJAC winners or a team that can win some big games.  

“Without watering it down, everybody,” Baker said. “Everybody has to get better. The new guys have to come in and try to make an impact. The returning guys, we had an underachieving season last year. We didn’t make the national tournament and we got beat in the NJAC finals. Those are things that we don’t want to do. We have a lot of returning players, and they all need to do better. Everybody that was on that field for some of those games and losses. Every one of our returning players needs to step up.”

When you’re coming off a tough season, and a tough loss in your first game of the year, the rest of the season is about proving the doubters wrong. The consistent question is, what can this team do to show that they are going to be a successful squad when push comes to shove towards the end of the season?

“We need to prove that we’re going to be a team that’s consistently in it and ready,” Baker said. “We need to have a mindset that’s the same every game. That we need to come out and be the best we can be on that day. I think if we do that we’re going to be in really good shape, but we need to prove that we can be consistent. We have to have the discipline to be a legit contender and not just a team that can win games.”

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