Spencer, IA—After suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday, the No. 17 Marshalltown Community College Men's Soccer team bounced back for a 3-0 win over No. 15 Iowa Lakes Community College on Tuesday evening.
Dropping 10 spots in the NJCAA Division I rankings on Tuesday, the Tigers (4-1-0/3-1-0) responded by blanking the Lakers on the road. Iowa Lakes (3-1-0/3-1-0) came in to the day making their first appearance in the national rankings this season at No. 15.
MCC used a pair of first half goals to jump ahead and relied on its stingy defense throughout the match to pick up the team's third shutout of the season. Freshman Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) notched the complete game shutout, the 12th of his career.
Head coach Rafael Martinez commended the Tigers for returning to form after Saturday's loss. "I am very proud of how the team responded to today's challenge," Martinez stated. "Iowa Lakes is a very good team that required our full effort throughout 90 minutes and we stepped up to the task. Responding to a tough loss at Indian Hills by coming up here and performing like this says a lot about this team."
"We will continue facing difficulties and challenges until the end of the season," Martinez continued. "We need to be ready to work through those moments together as we did today."
The Tigers opened up the day with a pair of scoring chances, created by sophomore Pedro Oliveira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazi/Colegio Estadual). Despite not finding the back of the net, MCC continued to pressure. The Tigers struck pay dirt in the 17th minute as Jose Moreno (Cordoba, Spain/I.E.S. Blas Infante) buried a through ball pass from Kino Ryosuke (Hyogo, Japan/Takigawadaini) for the 1-0 lead.
Ryosuke tallied his second assist of the day after finding freshman Roger de La Villa (Barcelona, Spain/Escola Sant Gregori) streaking to the net in the 30th minute. After an initial save on the cross, de La Villa volleyed home the second attempt for his third goal of the year.
Pereira was tested early on in the second half and made a diving save to prevent the Lakers from cutting the deficit in half. Iowa Lakes' offensive attack continued to intensify, but the back line of the Tiger defense kept the opposition scoreless.
MCC added a third goal with just 16 seconds on the clock to deflate the Lakers. Freshman Gabriel Perez (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Profesor Maximo Trueba) teamed up with Thiago Fernandes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Dom Oton Mota) and Ryosuke for a combination of passes in the box that led to the final goal.
The Tigers have now outscored their opponents by a 22-4 margin on the year. The win over the Lakers is the first victory against a ranked opponent for the Tigers since defeating No. 9 Jefferson College in the 2012 NJCAA National Tournament.
Next up for the Tigers is a home date with Northeast Community College in conference play. Kickoff is set for 2:00 PM on Saturday, Sept. 10.
