Rosette leads the pack for RKA soccer

Melissa Cohen had seen “The Samantha Rosette Show” before and she was not particularly thrilled with how it ended.

“Last year when we played against her, she scored three goals in the first 10 minutes,” said Cohen, South Bronx High School’s girls’ soccer coach. “She probably could have scored 10 goals. She was being nice to us.”

Rosette is the unquestioned star of the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy’s (M.S./H.S. 141, RKA) girls’ soccer team and the movie script changed little from last year’s showing when RKA and South Bronx met last week at Van Cortlandt Stadium. This time it took just four minutes into the game for Rosette to strike for the first time on her way to a three-goal day as RKA shut out South Bronx 10-0 to run its record to 3-0.

But the story around RKA is not its perfect start to the season. Nor is it the fact that the Tigers have yet to allow a single goal through three games. No, it’s all about Rosette, the senior sensation with the flowing red hair, neon green cleats and an uncanny knack for finding the back of the net.

And unfortunately for RKA’s PSAL opponents, she is just getting started.

“We had 11 new girls last year and Sam did a great job helping teach them the game and the style we wanted to play,” RKA coach Julienne Krause said. “So she kind of held back some last year at my request because I had asked her to help work with the other girls to make them better players and make us a better team as a whole. And because she did such a good job of doing that last year, her reward was she could go for it this year. Go get her goals and focus on herself for her senior year.”

So far, the “Samantha Show” has been a smashing success. In just three games this season, in which the Lady Tigers have outscored their opponents, 19-0, Rosette has logged three straight multiple-goal games and has 10 goals in total. That places her fourth among scorers in the state, though she has earned her spot with far fewer games played than the others ahead of her on the list.

Star unleashed

Being given the green light to score at will by Krause certainly agrees with Rosette.