Marshalltown, IA—Adrian Gomez (Ponteareas, Spain/Aceimar) provided the only scoring of the game in the fourth minute for No. 17 Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team, but the lone goal was all the Tigers needed as MCC fended off Iowa Central Community College 1-0 at home on Tuesday.
The win is the fourth consecutive shutout for the Tigers (7-0-0/4-0-0) who entered the game ranked No. 17 in this week's NJCAA and NSCAA Division I Men's Soccer polls. Gomez took advantage of an Iowa Central miscue in the opening minutes and the MCC defense prevailed the final 86 minutes for the team's fourth clean sheet of the season.
Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) extended his scoreless streak to 379:80 in net, stopping two shots in the first half. The MCC defense held the Tritons without a shot in the second half.
MCC is off to its best start since the 2007 team went 10-0-0 to start the season. That team allowed just four goals in the first 10 matches while this year's squad has allowed just three.
A blustery day at MCC proved costly for the Tritons early on. Freshman defender Fernando Gutierrez (Ibiza, Spain/I.E.S. Algarb) emerged from the backfield and sent a high strike in to the Iowa Central box. Over-anticipation from a Triton defender allowed the ball to slip through the last line of defense where Gomez was waiting to corral the lob. The freshman fired a shot that found its way past a diving Iowa Central goalie for the early 1-0 lead.
Scoring chances were far and few between throughout most of the match as the possession-oriented Tigers controlled the midfield. The backline for the Tigers, consisting of Gutierrez, Agustin Ortiz (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown), Florian Caraballo (Cordoba, Spain/I.E.S. Medina Azahara), and Miguel Jareno (Ubeda, Spain/I.E.S. Lopez-Neyra) kept the Tritons without a solid look on net for most of the day.
The Tigers toughest challenge of the year comes on Saturday afternoon as MCC travels to No. 8 Iowa Western Community College for a 2:00 PM conference matchup.
