Marshalltown, IA—Freshman Alberto Morales (Granada, Spain/Santa Fe DH) recorded his second-career hat-trick to lead the top-seeded and sixth-ranked Marshalltown Community College Men's Soccer team to a 6-1 win over Dakota County Technical College in the quarterfinal round of the Region XI Tournament.
With the win, MCC advances to the semifinal round of the Region XI Tournament where the Tigers will take on fourth-seeded Iowa Central Community College at 12:00 PM on Saturday at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, IA. The Tritons defeated fifth-seeded Indian Hills Community College 2-1 on Wednesday.
Morales, the team's leading scorer on the year, opened up the scoring early for the Tigers on Wednesday. The freshman received a lob pass over the top of the Blue Knights' defense from Artur Aguiar (Fortaleza, Brazil/7 de Setembro) and beat the backline for an easy chip over Dakota County's keeper for the 1-0 lead just 5:30 into the match.
Sergio Beresaluze (Novelda, Spain/Colegio Padre Dehon) doubled the Tigers' lead in the 26th minute after receiving a through ball from fellow freshman Thiago Fernandes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Dom Oton Mota) for his fifth goal of the season. Just under a minute later, the Blue Knights took advantage of a blustery day at MCC as a cross drifted into the back of the net to cut the Tigers' lead in half.
Morales proved why he is the leading-scorer in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) as the freshman beat a defender and buried a shot just over two minutes later on an assist from Adrian Gomez (Ponteareas, Spain/Aceimar) for his second goal of the day. The Tigers took the 3-1 lead into halftime.
18 minutes into the second half Morales completed the hat-trick as Fernandes recorded his second assist of the match. Fernandes sent a long pass down the left side of the field and Morales was able to have a one-on-one with the keeper for his conference-leading 16th goal of the season.
Four goals were not enough for the Tigers as David Gomez (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) delivered a strike on a free kick from 30 yards out, placed in the upper near corner to beating the Dakota County goalie for his eighth goal of the year.
Freshman Sirleaf Wiah (Brooklyn Park, MN/Prairie Seeds) capped off the scoring after weaving in and out of traffic, finding himself with a one-on-one with the keeper that resulted in his fourth goal of the year.
Freshman Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira), this week's ICCAC Goalie of the Week for the fourth time this season, stopped two shots to earn his 17th victory of the season.
The Tigers advance to the semifinal round for the second-straight year. MCC fell to Iowa Lakes Community College 3-1 in 2014. The win against Dakota County snaps a two-game playoff losing streak to the Blue Knights.
MCC defeated its semifinal opponent, Iowa Central, twice this year- 1-0 on Sept. 15 and 2-0 on Oct. 14.
In other Region XI Tournament action, second-seeded Iowa Wesern Community College defeated seventh-seeded Scott Community College 4-0. Third-seeded Iowa Lakes Community College hosts sixth-seeded North Iowa Area Community College at 7:00 PM Wednesday night.
