Tough road loss for Central men’s soccer team

WAVERLY — The Central College men’s soccer team struggled in a 4-0 loss at Wartburg College Saturday afternoon.

Central (2-3-1, 2-3-1 American Rivers Conference) actually outshot Wartburg (4-2, 4-2 conference) but the Dutch only put three on frame as opposed to seven by the Knights.

Wartburg scored twice in the first 12 minutes for an early 2-0 lead.

“They took the initiative from the beginning and were rewarded with two brilliant goals,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “I don’t think we could have saved either of those, they were terrific shots from distance.”

Central battled back and even had a chance to make it 2-1 on a Matthew West (sophomore, forward, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) penalty kick.

“I thought we had a tremendous response,” Laidlaw said. “Unfortunately, their keeper made a good save. That was one of the main turning points of the game. We were very much in the ascendency and felt like we could have gotten back into the game at 2-1.”

The Knights added two more goals in the final 15 minutes of the second half to put the game away.

“We’ll use this game as a learning opportunity and growth experience for our players,” Laidlaw said.

Forward Tristin Gilles (junior, Hudson) and midfielder Zach Worster (junior, Saint Peters, Mo., Saint Dominic HS) had the other shots on goal.

The Dutch take their final road trip of the season to Storm Lake to play Buena Vista University Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a chance to address some of the things that affected us negatively today,” Laidlaw said. “We’re going to try to put work into action and see how the team responds.”