Central men string together third straight soccer shutout
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA — Holding its opponents off of the scoreboard for third match in a row, the Central College men’s soccer team registered a 1-0 win over the University of Dubuque Tuesday night.
The win also evened the overall season record for Central at 6-6 and made them 3-1 in American Rivers Conference play. The Spartans fell to 3-9 overall and 1-4 in league play.
“Dubuque has a good, young team,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “Based on film, we knew they were much better than the record showed. This is a tough place to play, to come out of here with three points tonight is huge for us.”
Goalkeeper Salvador Salado-Herrera (sophomore, Brooklyn Park, Minn., Park Center) has played 252 of 270 minutes during the scoreless streak, including all 90 Tuesday.
“I think he’s found his form again,” Laidlaw said. “He was really big for us tonight when he had to be. He made a couple of huge saves, especially when they made a push in the second half.”
Laidlaw also said the back line quartet of Landon Daniels (junior, Webster City), Kiel Pederson (senior, Arlington Heights, Ill., John Hersey HS), Taylor Petkovich (junior, Littleton, Colo., Heritage HS) and Logan Serbousek (sophomore, Cedar Rapids, Prairie HS) excelled.
“They had another really solid performance,” he said. “They were really tight tonight.”
The only scoring strike of the contest was the first-career goal by freshman forward Tristin Gilles (Hudson). He got an assist from senior forward Aroni Niyikiza (Cedar Rapids, Washington HS).
“It started with a peach of a ball by Aroni,” Laidlaw said. He played in a great cross and really helped create the goal. Tristin did the rest. I’m really happy for him. It wasn’t just his goal. I thought he played well in all aspects of the game.”
Next up for Central is a home contest against Nebraska Wesleyan University Saturday at 3 p.m.
“We just feel good about our game right now,” Laidlaw said. “We’ll continue to focus on what we are doing well and work on the areas that need it.”
