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March 28, 2024

Athlete of the week: RJ Moore — soccer

By COURTNEY COLWELL | October 26, 2017

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HOPKINSSPORTS.COM Freshman midfielder RJ Moore.

In a victorious week for the Hopkins men’s soccer team, the Jays garnered two Centennial Conference wins, bringing their record to 13-1-2 with just one game left to go in the regular season.

The Jays first took on the McDaniel Green Terror last Wednesday night at Homewood Field. Scoring early on in the first half, the Jays continued to dominate offensively throughout the game, with senior midfielder Drew Collins knocking in the Blue Jays’ second goal of the night in the 54th minute.

Following the 2-0 win, a loss against Swarthmore and a draw against Dickinson, Hopkins formally clinched their spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament.

Refusing to rest on their laurels, however, the Jays kept their momentum going into this weekend. In their away match against Ursinus this past Saturday, Hopkins capitalized on offensive opportunity after offensive opportunity. Scoring three times in each half, Hopkins further enhanced their first-place standing in the Centennial Conference with the 6-0 win.

Given two dominant performances, this week’s Athlete of the Week could have gone to any number of players on the men’s soccer team. Senior goalie Bryan See earned his 10th shutout of the season this week, and sophomore forwards Liam Moylan and Achim Younker each tallied an impressive two goals against Ursinus.

However, this week we look to a younger player, whose rookie season has proven to be quite impressive thus far. With five points on the week, this week’s Athlete of the Week deservedly goes to freshman midfielder RJ Moore.

This Virginia native has been a consistent performer for the Jays since he joined the Hopkins team this fall.

Starting in every game so far, Moore has accumulated an impressive two goals and seven assists in his rookie season. This past weekend alone, Moore contributed a goal in each game and added an assist to his record in the game versus McDaniel.

Moore is tied both for leading the team in assists and for second in assists within the Centennial Conference. Most importantly, with his seven assists on the season, Moore is just two assists shy of the Centennial Conference record, and he has already surpassed the school’s record for assists garnered by a freshman.

With one regular season game left and the postseason lingering, there’s no telling what more he could accomplish.

Following his standout week, Moore was named this week’s Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the first weekly honor for the freshman. Moore was kind enough to sit down with The News-Letter to discuss what the award meant to him on a personal level and what this week’s wins meant for the team.

The News-Letter:How hard has the transition been from high school soccer to the collegiate level?

RJ Moore: Transitioning from high school soccer to college soccer is definitely a step up in intensity, as the college game is played at a fast pace.

With that said, I feel as though my club and high school soccer experiences prepared me well for the collegiate level, especially given my summer training with the BRYC 99 Elite team in preparation for the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in July.

N-L:In Wednesday’s game against McDaniel, the team clinched its spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs. How excited was the team about this achievement?

RM: We were certainly excited to earn a spot in the playoffs, but just clinching a spot was not the end goal. We have our eyes set on winning the Conference Championship and making a run in the NCAA Tournament, and I think we are capable of doing that.

N-L:How did it feel to win Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week this week?

RM: I was very happy to win Player of the Week. I thought our team as a whole had two strong performances this week, and we are looking to keep that momentum going forward in our game against Dickinson on Friday and then in the Conference Tournament.

N-L:Going into your last regular season game on Friday against Dickinson, what is the team focused on improving upon or working on?

RM: The team is focused on improving our connections in the final third and converting the chances we create into goals.

N-L: Do you have any personal goals you are hoping to achieve in playoffs?

RM: Personally, I am hoping to contribute in whatever way possible to best help our team claim the Conference Championship, whether that’s by creating chances, finishing chances or helping out on defense.


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