The secret is out.

 

Cosmos B opponents in the National Premier Soccer League should be aware of center back Alejandro Penzini because he is actually a midfielder or forward dressed in defender's clothing, so to speak.

 

The numbers certainly don't lie.

 

Penzini has started two matches this season and has scored twice, an excellent strike rate for a forward. For a defender? Outstanding.

 

There is a reason for this. He played most of his soccer as an attacking midfielder or forward in his native Venezuela as well as with St. John's University and Adelphi University.

 

"It's funny because I tell some of my teammates and they don't believe me," Penzini said. "All my life I've played the offensive position and forward. Even when I got recruited to St. John's I got recruited as a forward. At Adelphi I played as a center midfielder and as a forward as well. Only my last two seasons at Adelphi I became a center back and since then I've stayed at center back. That's why I think I've always had a way to try to find the net, especially on set pieces because of my background as a forward."

 

Those set pieces have been corner kicks.

 

Penzini tallied Cosmos B's first goal of the season in the 4-0 season-opening win at Boston City FC on April 29, putting in a Darwin Espinal feed off a short corner. On Saturday, June 2, the 6-2, 176-lb. Penzini headed in John Neeskens' corner to the near post.

 

"Always, even as a defender, I love scoring," he said. "So, I've always had that hunger to attack when we have a set piece. When we have a corner, I want to go up for a corner. I want to help my team as much as I can."

 

Perhaps he can again on Saturday at 7 p.m., when Cosmos B hosts the New York Athletic Club at Commisso Stadium at Columbia University. The North Atlantic Conference Division leaders will put their 5-0-0 record on the line.

 

Is a perfect 10-0-0 out of the question?

 

"Definitely not," Penzini said. "We're very ambitious. I think individually and as a team, we have very competitive soccer players, a very competitive coaching staff. I know that [head coach] Carlos Mendes always transmit to us how hungry he is. He shows it in the locker room, game after game. It doesn't matter who we play, he wants us to perform, he wants us to win. So, for this team, i think the sky's the limit."

 

While playing for the Deportivo La Guaira Under-17 team in Caracas, Venezuela, Penzini played for Hugo Savarese, the younger brother of future New York Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese. Hugo told his brother about this promising player and Gio told St. John's head coach Dave Masur about this promising young player. (Penzini attended the Washington Academy, a bilingual school; he is fluent in English). Masur liked what he saw and recruited the Venezuelan teenager.

 

Penzini's stay with the Red Storm was shorter than planned. As a teammate with future New York Red Bulls players Tim Parker and Connor Lade, he was red-shirted his freshman year in 2011 before deciding to switch schools.

 

"I enjoyed my time at St. John's, but I felt their style of play and what David Masur expected from the team, I think it wasn't very compatible with the way I like to play," he said. "So, I looked for other options."

 

Those options included Hofstra University and Adelphi, and Penzini decided on the latter, where he secured a degree in business management before earning a Master's in Business Administration in 2017.

 

At Adelphi, Penzini blossomed into one of the team's premier players. As a senior, he was a first-team All-American and the Northeast-10 Conference and region player of the year. Penzini joined the Panthers a year before it dropped from Division I to Division II.

 

"I think that actually helped the program," he said. "Overall, I had a great experience, especially my senior year. We got to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament."

 

After trying out with the Red Bulls and some United Soccer League teams, Penzini contacted Gio Savarese for some help.

 

"He knew me, and he followed me and how I was playing in college," he said.

 

So, the 25-year-old Penzini last year tried out for the Cosmos but because he was a foreign-born player, the North American Soccer League team could not sign him. So, he joined Cosmos B. The Venezuelan is working on obtaining a green card.

 

Penzini started four games before an injury sidelined him for the rest of the NPSL season.

 

This year, Mendes has liked what he has seen in Penzini.

 

"He's improved from Day One," he said. "I saw him training in the offseason, got to know before we started here. Love his attitude and his mentality. He trains hard and he listens. He has a lot of qualities. There are still things we are working on as a team, Alejandro, also to fit into the system and to keep improving and also making steps forward. For me, that's the most important thing."