Waterloo, IA—Freshman Roger De la Villa (Barcelona, Spain/Escola Sant Gregori) buried a free kick goal in the 14th minute to lead the No. 15 Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team to a 1-0 win against Hawkeye Community College on Tuesday afternoon.
In a defensive battle, De la Vila proved to be the lone attacker for either side to find the back of the net. The freshman teed up a free kick from 35 yards out at the 13:59 mark for his fifth goal of the season. The game-winner is the first of De la Villa's career.
The Tiger defense prevailed the rest of the way to maintain the one-goal advantage for the Tigers.
Sophomore Rafael Pereira (Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria Vergilio Ferreira) stopped one shot on net to earn the shutout for the Tigers, the 18th of his career.
With the win, the Tigers locked up a home game for next week's Region XI Tournament. MCC has one regular season game remaining, a road contest at Northeast Community College on Saturday afternoon.
The Region XI Tournament will begin with a play-in game on Monday, Oct. 24. The Tigers will open up postseason play at home on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
