Second-half scoring burst helps Central men’s soccer team get first league win
Central College
PELLA — The Central College men’s soccer team found an answer to its offensive woes in the second half of Tuesday’s 3-1 win against Coe College at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field.
Midfielder Dennis Forrest (senior, Danville, Ill.) scored goals after halftime to help lead the Dutch (3-8 overall, 1-1 Iowa Conference) to their first Iowa Conference victory of the season.
“In the last two games the goals have come from Dennis Forrest,” said coach Garry Laidlaw. “He seems to be finding his feet out there, and that’s great to see.”
The Dutch did not get out to the start they wanted to in the first half, yielding a penalty kick opportunity to Coe (3-8, 0-2) in the opening minutes. Goalkeeper Austin Little (sophomore, Des Moines, Lincoln HS) came up with an important save to keep the match scoreless.
“It was absolutely huge, because that obviously wasn’t in the game plan,” said Laidlaw. “We didn’t need that to go in. It would have been an uphill fight from there because Coe is a well-organized defensive team and a well-coached team.”
After both teams failed to score in the first half, Forrest opened up the scoring in the 50th minute with a header that found the back of the net. Coe responded two minutes later with an equalizer. Then 12 minutes after relinquishing the lead, the Dutch took it back with a goal by forward Aleksander Glavas (senior, Loves Park, Ill. Guilford HS).
“I was really happy with the way we responded from the adversity there,” said Laidlaw. “This team never gives up and we’ve said that a lot this year. I think it happened today. The heads didn’t go down, we got right back at it.”
The goal was the first of the season for Glavas and gave Central the lead for good.
“It was nice to see the captain get a goal,” said Laidlaw. “He works hard for his chances, and he finally got rewarded today.”
Forrest added his second goal of the afternoon—and his fourth of the season–with 10 minutes remaining to seal the 3-1 victory for the Dutch, who outshot the Kohawks 27-6 in the match. The win snapped a streak of four straight one-goal losses.
Laidlaw was pleased with the performance of many of his players Tuesday. He singled out midfielder Adelmo Marchiori IV (sophomore, Carlinville, Ill.), midfielder Mark Hentschel (senior, West Des Moines, Dowling), forward Isaiah Mundell (freshman, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS), forward Josh Prokupek (freshman, Bellevue, Neb., East) and defender Nick Kuntz (sophomore, Coralvile, Iowa City West) for their effort on the field.
Central will travel to Waverly to take on Wartburg (6-2-2, 1-0) Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
