The Defender men's soccer beat the Central Baptist College Mustangs in the final game of the Pizza Ranch Classic in Sioux Center.
The Defenders found themselves at a scoreless draw at half after some missed opportunities earlier in the half. Their first chance came in the 20th minute on a free kick on the edge of the 18-yard box. Midfielder, Alberto Jimenez, sent a high lofted ball in the box and bounced around until it landed at the feet of Javier Moscardo at the 6-yard box. Moscardo put the ball on frame but Mustang goalkeeper, Connor Sims, was able to make a save to keep it scoreless. Moscardo had another attempt saved by Sims along with Evan Beier.
The Defenders opened up the scoring int he 55th minute on a goal by Marco Laenen. Blake Hansen started the attack with a feed to Javier Moscardo. Moscardo gave a threaded pass through the defense, hitting Laenen in stride. Laenen hit it with the outside of his foot and the shot was originally saved but rebounded right back to Laenen and he netted the first goal of the contest,
Blake Hansen scored the second goal via penalty kick in the 64th minute. Hansen received a pass from Laenen and dribbled through three different Mustang defenders where he was eventually fouled in the penalty area. Mustangs defender, Michael Settle, was shown a red card and sent off due to the foul being a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Hansen scored the penalty kick to increase the lead, 2-0.
Jacob Narkis increased the lead with a shot well outside of the penalty area after receiving a pass from Fan Murdoch.Â
To cap off the night. Tate Hansen scored his first collegiate goal of his career. Narkis took a one time shot and hit the far corner of the post that rebounded right to Hansen who finished it at the near post.
By the numbers:
- Defenders tallied 16 shots, 14 on frame
- Mustangs tallied two shots, one on frame
- Defenders goalkeeper, Mitchell Dryden improves his record to 2-0 after securing one save
- Mustangs goalkeeper had ten saves
- Jacob Narkis leads the defenders in goals scored with four on the season and 11 points
- Marco Laenen scored his third goal of the year
- Tate Hanses scored his first ever goal for the Defenders
- Blake Hansen scored his third goal of the season
The Defenders will travel to Lincoln, NE on Wednesday, September 6 to face off against Nebraska Wesleyan.
