Central men’s soccer team starts fast in win

PELLA- The Dutch scored quick in their match against Westminster (Mo.) with Spencer Taylor (junior, Norwalk) opening the scoring seven minutes into the match. Shortly after captain Joe Brown (senior, Norwalk) added another goal two minutes later.

The two goals in the first 10 minutes were enough as Central (1-1-0) was able to keep Westminster (Mo.) (0-2-0) scoreless.

“We got off to a fantastic start,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “The early goals settled us down.”

Goalkeeper Ronan Murphy (senior, Des Moines, Roosevelt) was great grabbing three saves and earning his first clean sheet of the season.

“Ronan was great, he is a complete goalkeeper,” said Laidlaw. “He made great decisions with his feet, catches, and saves.”

Laidlaw was proud of his team for doing the little things which helped them secure their first win of the season.

“Before this game we talked about keeping our heads up,” said Laidlaw. “We also talked about doing the little things better, making better decisions that put games away.”

Joe Brown was also spoke highly of the senior goalkeeper and loved what he saw from the team.

“Murphy is great,” said Brown. “It is like having another center back and it frees our midfielders up.”

“We did better playing more outside” Brown said. “The more we play together we will continue to improve and play like we did today.”

The Dutch have the rest of the week off and they return to the pitch on Saturday when the squad hosts Eureka (Ill.) in another non-conference match up on the A.N. Kuyper Athletic Complex soccer field.