Wartburg edges Central men’s soccer squad

Central College

PELLA—Wartburg College slipped past the Central College men’s soccer squad 1-0 with a second-half goal in the Iowa Conference opener for both teams Saturday.

The Knights notched the only goal needed in the 70th minute. It’s the fourth time in the last five meetings that Wartburg (4-3, 1-0 conference) has escaped the Dutch by one tally.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen this picture before,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “The last few times we’ve played Wartburg and maybe even more so today, I’ve felt we’ve done enough to win the game. The difference in the game is we miss an open goal and they tuck theirs away.”

Central outshot the Knights 15-11 and had a 6-4 corner kick advantage.

Freshman midfielder Serge Sievertson (Wilmette, Ill., New Trier Township HS) had five shots for the Dutch and midfielder Brandon Bautista (junior, St. Charles, Ill., North HS) and forward Jordan Appenzeller (junior, Boone) each had two. Goalkeeper David Ziemann (senior, Van Meter) recorded four saves.

Central (5-4 overall, 0-1 conference) hosts Grinnell College (2-5-1) Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a non-conference matchup at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex soccer field.

The Dutch will work on putting away each chance they get.

“We need to continue to search for ways to be more effective in and around the box and maybe even continue to look at different personnel,” Laidlaw said. “This is the deepest group we’ve had in years. We’ve got to find a way to finish the goal we need to put us over the top.”

A video webstream and live stats will be available through the Dutch athletics website at www.central.edu/athletics.