ICCC Soccer 8/28/09

Tritons open exhibition season against Grand View
by Josh SandinPhoto Courtesy of Paul DeCourseyPosted on 8/28/2009
DES MOINES – The Iowa Central Men’s Soccer Team opened their season with an exhibition match against the Grandview University Vikings. This was the first sanctioned pre-season match for the Tritons, and the squad was quite anxious to play against a quality opponent.
The Vikings came out of the gates hard and fast, bringing with them a very fast paced and physical style of play. The Tritons refused to be out matched and out worked, and the two teams battled back and forth the whole first half, both teams creating scoring opportunities. Triton Goalkeeper, Kyle Fitch, denied the Viking attackers of goals on several occasions by making full-extension saves and smothering breakaway opportunities.
There was no score until the last minutes of the first half when the Vikings were able to capitalize on a defensive miscue made by the Tritons. The halftime score was 1-0 in favor of the Vikings. The Tritons started the second half with a completely fresh line of 11 new players. The two teams continued to battle until Alex Van De Laarschott took a diagonal dribble from the left wing to the left side of the 18-yard box and hit an absolute screamer that found the back of the net. This opened a goal scoring frenzy for the Tritons. Five minutes later, center midfielder Jaciel Perez was able to find a streaking John Morgan with a long ball from the center of the park. As the ball reached Morgan’s foot at the top of the 18-yard box he casually sent a first-time shot straight to the back of the net, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Tritons.
Play continued and the Tritons refused to slow down. Jake Fahrenkrug set up a third goal for the Tritons after making a ground challenge that ended with the ball squirting to the foot of a streaking Austin Otto, who in turn buried the ball into the bottom left corner of goal. The show was not over yet as Otto added the fourth and final goal of the match with a quality left footed strike from the right side of the 18-yard box to the bottom right corner of goal.
The match ended with a final score of 4-1 in favor of the Tritons. The Triton coaching staff was very pleased with the teams’ first showing and is expecting that the level of play will continue to improve with time.