Ottumwa, IA—Three goals in the final 20 minutes of the game allowed the No. 7 Marshalltown Community College Men's Soccer team to remain unbeaten on the year with a 4-1 victory at Indian Hills Community. The Tigers improve to 12-0-1 overall and 8-0-1 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play.
The Tigers looked in control right from the start as Eniz Smajlovic (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) netted a goal off of a corner kick in the fourth minute. MCC has now scored the first goal of the game in 10 of the team's 13 games this season. Adrian Gomez (Ponteareas, Spain/Aceimar) was credited with the assist off of the corner kick.
MCC took its 1-0 lead into halftime, but the Warriors (4-8-0/3-6-0) surprised the Tigers with a breakaway goal in the 49th minute to tie the match at one. Despite multiple scoring chances over the next 15 minutes for the Tigers, including a shot off of the cross bar, the game remained deadlocked.
MCC finally struck pay-dirt with a goal in the 70th minute from Pedro Oliveira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Estadual), the first of his MCC career. The freshman put a shot on net off of a corner kick, but was denied. Oliveira regained possession off of the rebound and buried the shot for the eventual game-winner.
Gomez doubled the lead as the freshman received a pass from Alberto Morales (Granada, Spain/Santa Fe DH) on a breakaway in the 84th minute and found the back of the net for a 3-1 advantage. Sirleaf Wiah (Brooklyn Park, MN/Prairie Seeds) provided an insurance goal three minutes later on an assist from Jose Alcazar (Tama, IA/Tama) to lift MCC to its fifth straight win.
Earlier in the year, the Tigers boasted a scoreless streak of 569:16, a streak that spanned seven games. Prior to Indian Hills' goal on Wednesday, MCC ran another scoreless streak of 333:54, a streak spanning five games that included three shutouts. The Tigers have allowed just six goals on the year for a goals against average of 0.45 which ranks second in the nation.
Freshman Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) made one save in net to improve to 12-0-1 on the year.
As a team, the Tigers fired 14 shots, eight which were on net. MCC also earned nine corner kicks in the win.
The Tigers return home on Friday afternoon for a 4:00 PM match against conference opponent Scott Community College (3-9-0/2-6-0).
