Cornell defeats Central men’s soccer squad
MOUNT VERNON — A pair of first-half goals was too much for the Central College men’s soccer team to overcome in a 3-0 loss Tuesday at Cornell College.
The Rams (3-4-3) found the back of the net twice in the first 16 minutes to take control of the match against the Dutch (3-3-2). The first goal was a penalty kick 2:16 into the match.
“The first goal is usually important in matches so it was tough to concede a penalty so early,” coach Garry Laidlaw said.
Cornell added a third goal in the 70th minute but Central had an 18-15 advantage in shots and a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal. Central also had 59% of the possession.
“I thought we carried much of the play for the last 60 minutes and took the match to them,” Laidlaw said.
The Dutch used 26 different players in the contest, its second in a seven-day span this week.
“We know we have to manage the squad this week so we rotated a lot of players,” Laidlaw said.
The Dutch will make a quick turnaround to play at Eureka College (Ill.) Thursday at 4 p.m.
“There were more lessons learned today as we continue to grow as a team,” Laidlaw said. “We just have to put our best parts of our game together from the start.”
