Mason City, IA—The No. 10 Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team's school-record shutout streak ended on Wednesday, but the Tigers have begun a new run after securing a 1-0 win at North Iowa Area Community College on Saturday afternoon. MCC improved its record to 9-0-1 on the year and are 6-0-1 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play.
Sophomore Agustin Ortiz (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) scored the game's lone goal in the 20th minute as the MCC defense limited the Trojans throughout a majority of the match, allowing just one shot on goal which was saved by freshman goalkeeper Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira).
Ortiz's goal came on an assist from Jose Alcazar (Tama, IA/South Tama), the freshman's first-career point. Alcazar played a cross from the far right side that made its way past the NIACC defense and wound up on the foot of Ortiz at the far post. The defender buried the shot for his fifth-career goal. Ortiz also scored a game-tying goal against NIACC in 2014, a game the Tigers ended up winning 4-3.
MCC tallied eight shots on goal to the Trojans' one. The shutout is the team's sixth clean sheet of the year.
Despite just one goal, head coach Rafael Martinez felt his team commanded the game throughout the day. "I feel that we controlled the ball and the tempo during the game as we allowed just one shot on net. We lacked some verticality, but overall I feel good about the match."
The Tigers take a break from ICCAC play with a home game against William Penn JV on Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 PM.
