Marshalltown, IA—The No. 6 Marshalltown Community College Men's Soccer team captured the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) regular season championship with a 2-0 win over North Iowa Area Community College on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers finished the regular season with the program's first-ever unbeaten season with a record of 16-0-2.
MCC capped off the regular season in a familiar fashion, shutting out its opponent for the 12th time this year, a school record. The Tigers allowed just seven goals, topping the 2007 team's total of eight goals allowed in the regular season. Freshman Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) lowered his goals against average to 0.39 on the year, the best mark in the nation this year.
With the conference championship, the Tigers clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Region XI Tournament. MCC will host the winner of No. 8 Northeast Community College vs. No. 9 Dakota County Technical College on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 3:00 PM. Northeast and Dakota County will play at 3:00 PM on Monday.
"I'm really proud and happy for everyone that is a part of this program," head coach Rafael Martinez stated after the win. "I'd like to thank the community as well as everyone throughout our wonderful campus because of their tremendous pride they have towards this team. They have rallied around us over the course of the year and have provided amazing support for our program."
"In my opinion," Martinez continued, "we have continuously grown as a team, game after game. Every single day our players are out there trying to be the best that they can be. That has allowed us to be where we are, with the program's first-ever undefeated season. Through hard work and determination, we were able to win the conference with an unbeaten season, something that has never happened before at Marshalltown."
The Tigers entered Saturday needing at least a tie to earn a piece of the regular season conference championship. MCC came into the day with a 0.5 game edge on No. 12 Iowa Western Community College. Saturday's win put away any doubt, as the Tigers' won the title outright.
Freshman Alberto Morales (Granada, Spain/Santa Fe DH), the team's leading goal scorer over the course of the season, put MCC on top early with a goal just 1:53 into the match. Sophomore Isaac Moore (Des Moines, IA/Herbert Hoover) sent a pass across the NIACC box, finding the foot of Morales who gathered the ball and fired a shot into the back of the net.
NIACC came close to tying the game just minutes later, but a heads up play from Agustin Ortiz (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) at the goal line saved an empty net goal and preserved the lead.
Morales' day was far from over as the freshman doubled the Tigers' lead in the 16th minute. Sophomore Eniz Smajlovic (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) lobbed a pass from the right side of the box as Morales streaked towards the net. Morales timed his leap and headed home the team's second goal.
While the offense struck early, it was the reliable MCC defense that clamped down on the Trojans in the second half to record the clean sheet for the Tigers. Pereira stopped four shots in the win.
Morales ended the regular season the same way he started the year. The freshman scored a pair of goals in the season-opener against Iowa State Club before capping off the year with another two-score performance in the finale, his fourth multi-goal game of the year. Morales finishes the season with the most goals (13) and most points (31) in the ICCAC.
"We talked a lot about concentration prior to today's game, with all of the extracurricular activities surrounding Sophomore Day" Martinez added. We wanted to be focused and hungry from the beginning, and our guys stepped up right away. That first goal really changed the dynamic of the game and gave us the confidence to keep working. From that moment on, I thought we controlled the game and controlled NIACC, a team that has really come on as of late."
"Another shutout speaks volumes about our guys. This team has the intrinsic motivation to shut out the opponents and guys really take pride in that. 'Building from the zero' is how we approach every game. It's a perfect way for us to finish the season."
"Obviously our focus is on Wednesday, a very important game. We want to keep the season going and the players are ready to make that happen."
For full tournament pairings for the Region XI Tournament,visit: http://www.iccac.org/article/2436.php
