Iowa Western men's soccer team gets back to 3-3 in ICCAC play after defeating the Knights of Dakota County Technical College 5-1 in Apple Valley, Minnesota. The Reivers got an early lead from sophomore Massimo Baron in the seventh minute. The Reivers won a free kick roughly 25 yards out and slightly on the right side of the field. Baron hit a powerful curling effort over the wall and past the keeper before he could react. The Reivers doubled their lead seven minutes later when freshman Raul Meneghetti won a penalty kick after some quick footwork in the Knights box. Freshman Mateo Mendez Schroeder was able to bury his spot kick despite the keeper getting a hand on the ball.
The Reivers were back on the board in the 56th minute thanks to sophomore Tanner Miller's first goal of the season. Freshman keeper Daniel Bermingham sent a direct ball deep into the Knights half. Meneghetti challenged for the first header, Mendez Schroeder was able to win the second header which found Miller in motion in the box. He was able to skip past the last defender and found the bottom right corner with a neat finish on his weaker left foot. Meneghetti got his first goal of the season after he was able to make his way into the right side of the box. With little options in the middle of the goal, Meneghetti created space for himself and beat the keeper from a tight angle to make it 4-0 for the Reivers. The Knights responded quickly with a goal of their own from a set piece. Joaqine Sanchez was able to beat Bermingham after he twice saved well from close range following an initial dangerous ball played into the box. Iowa Western answered back with the final goal of the game when Meneghetti powered his near post header past the keeper from a Baron corner kick.
The Reivers move to 3-3 in the conference which puts them tied for fifth place Northeast CC. The Reivers will travel to Spencer, Iowa to take on the Lakers of Iowa Lakes Community College on Tuesday, October 2nd. The game can be seen live at 2:00 PM online at http://goreivers.com/information/reiver-sports-network.
