Iowa Western men's soccer win their opening playoff match against the Tritons of Iowa Central Community College. An uneven playing surface, cold day, and high winds made for a difficult game in Fort Dodge, Iowa in the quarter finals matchup between the fifth seed Reivers and fourth seed Tritons. The Reivers started the game with the strong wind at their back, and were able to keep the majority of the play in the attacking half. The Reivers created six corner kicks and multiple set pieces from fouls, but did not test the Triton keeper in the opening half. The Tritons also did not provide many nervous moments for the Reivers keeper. The half ended with five shots with two on goal for the Reivers, and three shots with zero on target for the Tritons.
The Tritons got their turn to attempt to take advantage of the wind in the second half as the majority of the play was in their attacking half. The Reivers dealt well with the Tritons set pieces and crosses from the run of play, but did not have much going forward until the 71st minute when the Reivers won a free kick just inside the attacking half. Midfielder Mauricio Dos Santos sent a high driven ball into the Tritons box. Forward Raul Meneghetti was quickest to react to the movement caused by the wind as he was able to control the ball and push it around his defender. Meneghetti was able to get to the endline in the right corner of the box before driving a low cross back into the middle of the goal where Vicente Gallardo was able to smash home from close range to make it 1-0. The last 19 minutes were played out without any significant chances on goal for either team as the Reivers backline dealt with incoming crosses and the frontline was able to counter attack and win fouls to help run the clock out.
The Reivers move to 9-5-1 on the season as they head into the semi final round of the ICCAC Region Tournament. The Reivers will travel to Marshalltown to take on the top seeded Tigers of Marshalltown this Tuesday, October 23rd. The game will be streamed live by the Tigers at https://www.youtube.com/user/MCCAthletics/videos?view_as=subscriber.
