Marshalltown, IA— For the second straight match the Marshalltown Community College Men's Soccer team battled to a 0-0 draw with Iowa Western Community College. The Tigers, ranked No. 5 in the latest NJCAA poll, remain unbeaten at 14-0-2 and 10-0-2 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play while the Reivers, ranked No. 12 in the NJCAA poll, went to 11-1-4 and 9-0-3 in league play.
The two teams fought to a 0-0 tie in Council Bluffs, IA on Sept. 19. With the draw, the Tigers remain in first place and 0.5 games ahead of the Reivers in the conference standings.
In a match featuring two of the top goalkeepers in the nation, freshman Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) stopped five shots, including a save in the first overtime. Iowa Western keeper Josh Blair denied MCC four times on the afternoon. Pereira leads the nation in goals against average at 0.38 while Blair ranks fourth at 0.51. Both goalies are also tied for first with one another with eight complete game shutouts on the year.
With the shutout, the Tigers are now tied for first in the country with 10 total shutouts while the team's goals against average of 0.37 ranks second, slightly behind Dean College's mark of 0.36.
Iowa Western outshot the Tigers 15-11 on the day, including a 4-0 advantage in the two overtime periods.
The Reivers were the attacking team in the early minutes of the game, but the Tigers settled down to control possession through much of the first half as MCC held an 8-6 edge in shots through 45 minutes of play.
Freshman Alberto Morales (Granada, Spain/Santa Fe DH), this week's ICCAC Offensive Player of the Week, fired a shot on net in the 51st minute, but Blair made a fingertip-save, deflecting the ball just over the cross bar.
The Tigers looked to take a one goal lead in the 70th minute as Artur Aguiar (Fortaleza, Brazil/7 de Setembro) headed home a direct kick from David Gomez (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown), but the Tigers were whistled for an offside call.
After 90 minutes of scoreless play, the two teams went to a sudden-death overtime. Iowa Western had an opportunity late in the first overtime with a corner kick with less than 30 seconds to play. The Tiger defense stood tall, deflecting a header at the goal line and forcing an errant Reiver shot to send the game into a second overtime. The final 10 minutes provided little offensive production for either side as neither team recorded a shot, resulting in the scoreless draw.
MCC remains just one of three unbeaten teams in the nation, joining Mercer County Community College (14-0-2) and No. 17 Dean (10-0-0).
The Tigers have just two regular season games remaining, both against ICCAC foes. MCC travels to third-place Iowa Lakes Community College on Oct. 20 before returning home for the regular season finale against North Iowa Area Community College on Oct. 24 for Sophomore Day.
