BETTENDORF, IA – Indian Hills Men's Soccer picked up its first win of the season Wednesday against Scott Community College, 5-0 at TBK Bank Sports Complex. The victory comes after a season-opening draw against Southeastern, and with a shutout road win, one would think that first-year IHCC Head Soccer Coach James Ross would be pleased with the outcome.
A deeper dive than the score itself will reveal that Ross is anything but satisfied with his team's first triumph of 2021.
"I really felt like it was about 70 minutes into the game before our guys started to play the brand of scorer we're going to need to play to win games in this league," Ross said. "We're not finishing. We're not capitalizing. We have a lot of work to do to clean things up."
Perhaps Ross' opinion was slanted after seeing the result of Scott's (0-2) season-opening loss to Iowa Western (a 17-0 drubbing just four days prior in Bettendorf). Regardless, the Warrior headman knows that he needs more out of his players going forward.
IHCC did manage a pair of first half goals in the controlled environment inside the TBK Bank facility. Rui Tsubakihara took an assist from captain Ronaldo Carvalho in the 20th minute to put the Warriors up 1-0. Sophomore Alejandro Contreras would cash in on the first of two goals on the day with a penalty kick with ten minutes to play before intermission to hand IHCC a 2-0 margin at the break.
Contreras would make it 3-0 in favor of the visitors at the 55-minute mark of the contest after Takumi Semba provided the first of two assists on the day. The Japanese midfielder was at it again eleven minutes later assisting on the Warriors' fourth tally that came from Sebastian Grimaldi.
Kirksville, Missouri native Remerdie Ndiang collected his second goal in as many contests with just five minutes remaining in the contest on an assist from freshman Riguen Ngenda to complete the scoring.
Goalkeeper Andrea De Marinis had a clean sheet in net for the Warriors as the Italian shut out the Screaming Eagles with four saves on the afternoon.
"I've tried to make it clear to my guys, this type of effort won't be good enough going forward," Ross concluded. "There are far tougher games ahead, and until we get that figured out, we're going to continue to struggle."
Wednesday's contest was originally slated to be played at IHCC Field, but with impending rain forecasted, officials moved the contest to Bettendorf's indoor facility to ensure the game was played. The fallout will put the Warriors in position to face what will end up being a three-game road stretch as IHCC makes the long trek to Norfolk, Nebraska Saturday to take on Northeast (0-1) and then will follow up with a Tuesday trip to Waterloo to challenge Hawkeye (1-1).
Saturday's battle with the Hawks is slated for 1 p.m.
Scoring Summary
Period Time Team Play V-H
1st 20:00 IH Rui Tsubakihara (from Ronaldo Carvalho) 1-0
1st 35:00 IH Alejandro Contreras (penalty kick) 2-0
2nd 55:00 IH Alejandro Contreras (from Takumi Semba) 3-0
2nd 66:00 IH Sebastian Grimaldi (from Takumi Semba) 4-0
2nd 85:00 IH Remerdie Ndiang (from Riguen Ngenda) 5-0