Mason City, IA
The Iowa Western Men's Soccer team got their offense going as they traveled to the Trojans of North Iowa Area Community College. Freshman forward Mateo Mendez Schroeder marked his return from injury with a hat trick and an assist. Mendez scored the only goal of the first half when he was played into the corner of the box from sophomore Tanner Miller. Mendes looked poised to cross the ball, but was able to find the near post instead as he left his teammates and the Trojan keeper watching on as the ball hit the net in the 18th minute. The Reivers did not have many other attempts of note and the Trojans tested Freshman keeper Daniel Bermingham from distance a couple times as the half wore on.
The Reivers came out with purpose in the second half as they scored three goals within the first 10 minutes. Mendez turned provider to get the Reivers going in the second half when he exchanged passes with freshman Fernando Zaragoza down the left side of the box in the 48th minute. The quick passing allowed Zaragoza to make his way behind the Trojan backline and was able to finish low to the far post for his second goal of the season. Mendez then scored twice in the 52nd minute. The first was a direct ball down the middle of the field from captain Jaaziel Thompson that found Mendez in a one on one with the Trojan captain. Mendez was able to fight off the challenge and make his way around the keeper to finish off the play with a chip over the recovering keeper. Nearly straight from the kick off, Mendez found the ball in the left channel 40 yards from goal. His cross turned shot, with some help from the wind, took a courteous bounce in the box and over the head of Trojan keeper to make it 4-0. The Reivers weren't done just yet as they continued to push the tempo. Sophomore forward Thei Tlo finished off the scoring for the Reivers in the 69th minute after replacing Mendez. The Reivers worked the ball well up the left side of the field through freshman Nathan Monne. Monne was able to find Tlo in space outside the box on the left hand side of the field. Tlo placed a bending effort just inside the far post as the Trojan keeper could only watch it go in. The Trojans continued to test Bermingham in goal including a well deflected effort from distance that needed to be tipped around the far post at full stretch. Bermingham finished the game with five saves to mark the second shut out of the season.
The Reivers move to 2-2 in the conference which puts them in fourth place. The Reivers managed 22 shots with 10 of them on frame compared to the trojans 8 shots with 5 on frame. The Reivers take on the Warriors of Indian Hills Community College this Wednesday, September, 26th. The Warriors also sit at 2-2 in the conference after losing to Marshalltown late in the second half 4-3. The game can be seen live at 4:00 PM at the Reiver Sports Complex, or online at http://goreivers.com/information/reiver-sports-network.
