Overland Park, KS—Returning All-American Juan Carrillo (Cordoba, Spain/CES Lope de Vega) picked up where he left off in 2013 as the sophomore contributed a goal and an assist for the Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team in a 4-2 season-opening win over Coffeyville Community College at the Johnson County Community College Showcase. Four different players scored for the Tigers.
Freshman Carlos Smith (Des Moines, IA/East) opened up the scoring for MCC, finding the back of the net in the 18th minute after causing a turnover in the Coffeyville box. The Ravens netted the equalizer moments later only to see Carrillo score his first goal of the season.
Following the Ravens' goal, the Tigers provided a quick restart off the whistle. Freshman Lino Estevez (Vigo, Spain/I.E.S. San Paio) carried the ball towards the outside of the Coffeyville box and found a streaking Carrillo to regain the lead for MCC.
Minutes later, the Ravens again tied the game with a close-range shot on freshman goalkeeper Kwan Tolbert (Conway, AR/Conway) as both sides went into halftime deadlocked at two.
The two teams battled for possession throughout the opening minutes of the second half as the Tigers provided quality scoring chances, but hit the cross bar on multiple occasions.
The Tigers finally broke through in the 70th minute as Charles Huberty (Champlin, MN/Prairie Seeds) found David Gomez (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) inside the box. Gomez was able to turn and bury a shot on the far side of the net to beat the opposing keeper for the eventual game-winner. Huberty provided an insurance goal three minutes later on an assist from Carrillo to send the Tigers to their first win of the season.
"This was a good battle between two quality teams," head coach Rafael Martinez exclaimed. "We fought for possession and scoring chances, and we did a good job defensively to stop their direct balls."
The meeting with Coffeyville was the first for the MCC men's soccer program.
"It was a very complete match by everyone, including the players that came from the bench. I was pleased with how we controlled the game in the midfield and created chances up front. Our defense was able to stop a very offensive team with quality forwards." Martinez singled out the defensive presence that was able to limit Paulo Claudio, a second-team All-American in 2013.
Tolbert recorded seven saves in net to pick up his first career win for the Tigers.
MCC returns to action for its final game of the showcase against host Johnson County, ranked No. 20 in the preseason NJCAA rankings at 12:00 PM on Sunday.
