2021 Soccer season wraps up after Region XI Semifinals

MARSHALLTOWN – The Marshalltown Community College soccer team finished up the season fighting in the Semifinal game against Iowa Lakes until the last second. The Tigers would fall in a 2-1 loss in Spencer on Wednesday, Oct. 27 to end the season.

"I'm very proud of how the boys fought in this game," commented MCC Head Soccer Coach Raphael Nascimento. "They showed heart and passion and believed in each other. We were focused on the match and we knew that it would be a game decided on the details, and it was."

The Lakers opened the score board after a cross. Even going down 1-0, the Tigers kept creating chances, but couldn't find the back of the net. In the second half the Lakers found their goal after a great finish from #10. Even down 2-0, the Tigers kept fighting for their first goal, which came from defender, Ramon Bonzatto. With a bicycle kick the Tigers made it 2-1, with about four minutes left. MCC still had the chance for the equalizer to take the game to the OT, but the Lakers Goalkeeper had a great day to keep it 2-1.

"We created the chances, but we couldn't finish. That's the price we pay when we play good teams. If we don't finish our chances against the top teams, they will punish us when they have their chances," said Nascimento. "We can't afford to miss three or four chances of scoring because the top teams will have two or three chances and they will score one or two goals. If we want to be in the top, we need to learn quickly that we can't allow goals from our mistakes and that we must score when we create our chances."

Overall the Tigers had a good season with twenty freshman on the roster. "We had a group of new players this season and now we know how hard our conference is. Most of those guys didn't know how competitive and aggressive soccer is here in the USA and this was a learning season. I'm sure we will be even stronger next season."

MCC finished the 2021 season with a record of 7-6-1.