Davenport, IA—Just 24 hours removed from a physical loss at home, the Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team responded with a 6-1 drubbing of Carl Sandburg College. Juan Carrillo (Cordoba, Spain/CES Lope de Vega) netted his first career hat-trick and three other Tigers contributed their first-career goals in the victory.
Head coach Rafael Martinez commended the Tigers in the bounce-back win. "I found the intensity and desire levels much higher today. Everyone contributed from the beginning so I am very proud of the effort that everyone brought after a difficult last few days."
Taking on the Chargers in a neutral location, the Tigers were held scoreless through the opening portion of the first half until Eniz Smajlovic (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) buried a header in the back of the net off of a free kick from Lino Estevez (Vigo, Spain/I.E.S. San Paio). Four minutes later Smajlovic was on the giving end of the Tigers' next goal as the freshman found Carrillo from the left side to open up the sophomore's scoring barrage. MCC took the comfortable 2-0 advantage into halftime.
The scoring attack opened up in the second frame, commenced by a penalty kick from Carrillo in the 52nd minute. Eight minutes later Carrillo capped off his trifecta on a long outlet pass from Estevez, his second assist of the afternoon and fourth of the season.
Isaac Moore (Des Moines, IA/Herbert Hoover) recorded his first career score in the 65th minute on an assist from Celes Vilar (Las Palmas, Spain/San Antonio Maria Claret) who played a long pass from the sideline. The final MCC goal came just over a minute later as Martin Chavarria (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) found the scoring column for the first time this year with a shot from 25 yards out.
"I thought we controlled the ball well due to our mobility today," Martinez added. "We were able to create spaces to attack up front. Defensively we had some early doubts but solved most situations well after that."
Kwan Tolbert (Conway, AR/Conway) recorded his second win of the season after pitching a shutout and stopping four shots in the first half. Julian Pena (Muscatine, IA/Muscatine) finished off the second half in net with three saves for the Tigers.
With the win, MCC capped off its competitive nonconference schedule and will open up Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play at home against defending national champion Iowa Western Community College, ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division I poll. The Tigers and Reivers will kick-off at 2:00 PM on Sept. 6
