Fort Dodge, IA – The #13 Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team squared off with Iowa Central Community College Saturday afternoon in Fort Dodge. The two teams have had some of the best teams in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference the last decade, and again battled it out for ninety minutes. The Tritons of Iowa Central came out on top Saturday, defeating the Tigers 2-1.
The Tritons were able to get the first goal of the game and force the Tiger to play catchup. In the twentieth minute, the Tritons put the ball in the net, scoring on back up goalkeeper Tom Wackens. Wackens received his second start of his career Saturday with starting goalkeeper Joel Serrano playing for the Puerto Rico National Team. The Tigers were not down long, scoring in the twenty fifth minute when sophomore Rafael Vacas found the net. Halfway through the second half the Tritons struck again, putting them up 2-1. Not giving up, the Tigers continued to push the ball but were unable to complete solid runs at the goal.
"We can't do anything but congratulate Iowa central for the win," stated Head Coach Rafael Martinez. "They had a plan and executed it perfectly and we didn't do enough to get the game to go our way. The one positive I take is that we never gave up and kept trying to get the goal to tie the match. Now we have to regroup and work even harder to prepare ourselves for the next match. I believe in this team and know what we are capable of."
The Tigers will get a few days off and then travel to West Burlington, Iowa for a conference showdown with Southeastern Community College at 4:00 PM. Southeastern is currently 0-4 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. For more information on the MCC soccer team, follow @MCCTigers_MSOC on twitter.