Game Saver

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Being a soccer goalie is not easy. You may only be called upon two or three times a game, but when you are you have to come through.

Senior Jacinda Hevesy-Rodriguez has done that as well as anyone can in her three seasons as the starting varsity netminder at Palisades High and no one appreciates her as much as head coach Christian Chambers, who considers her leadership equally as valuable as her uncanny ability to keep the ball out of the net.

“She’s been everything I could’ve asked and more, especially how she works with the younger girls,” Chambers said. “No player has had a bigger impact on the success of our program the last few years than her. To win a championship good goalkeeping is a must and Jacinda keeps us in every game.”

“When I was younger [in Santa Monica] I played a different position and I didn’t want to switch, but one day my dad was shooting on me and he said you’re pretty good,” said Hevesy-Rodriguez, who resides in Brentwood but was born and raised in Santa Monica, where she attended PS1 for Elementary School ands went through a gymnastics phase and also played shortstop for her Rec League softball team before settling on soccer. “I remember AYSO Extra evaluations were the very next week, I went to the goalie tryouts and that’s how I ended up playing goalie. Once I got into it I was kind of self-taught and the more I played, the more I liked it.”

The Dolphins are sure happy she did because her numbers speak for themselves.In 2021-22 Hevesy-Rodriguez logged 1,180 minutes between the posts, allowing just eight goals against with 43 saves and nine shutouts. The next year, as a junior, she played 1,240 minutes, made 43 saves, recorded 10 shutouts, and posted a 13-2-2 record. She allowed only three goals, two of them in the City Division I semifinals against eventual-champion El Camino Real.

She lived in San Jose for three years during middle school and spent her freshman year at Leland High in the Almaden Valley before moving back to Southern California and enrolling at Palisades as a 10th-grader. In addition to playing for Chambers at Palisades, Hevesy-Rodriguez has been on his Santa Monica Surf 05-06 DPL club team for two and a half years:

“I like it—I’ve had some not so good coaches in the past and sometimes it doesn’t work when they’re your club coach and your high school coach, but he is the best and he’s made a big difference.”

While the position can be stressful, Hevesy-Rodriguez thrives on pressure: “It’s definitely challenging but mentally it helps you grow. My confidence and patience are so much better but so many times I would doubt myself. I was out there working every day and would ask myself ‘why am I not so much better?’ Soccer is about teamwork, communication and sticing together as a group. The field is my safe place… even if it’s by myself.”

Cat-quick reflexes are one of her strongsuits, but this year she has concentrated on being more vocal and more decisive on balls in the air.

Next fall, she plans to go to Santa Monica College, where her brother Marcus, who she still looks up to, is a sophomore on the men’s team.

“I wrote one of my papers on him,” Hevesy-Rodriguez admitted. “Growing up he was always more athletic than me. At 10 he could do 1,000 juggles while I couldn’t do 10 at that age. I went to his games and it was great having an older brother who played, although he’s a right back, not a goalie.We’re different people—he’s way more relaxed—but he’s taught me to be confident and not be so hard on myself.”

Hevesy-Rodriguez hopes this is the year the Dolphins break through for their first City upper division title. She already has 19 saves, three shutouts and has even scored a goal.