Fort Dodge, IA – Tsubasa Nagaoka (Urayasu, Japan/Chuo Gakuen) headed home the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Indian Hills Men's Soccer team to a 2-1 victory at Iowa Central Community College on Saturday. Nagaoka's goal was the first of the season for the freshman.
Deadlocked at one-all in the overtime session, Nagaoka found the back of the net for the first time this season off a corner kick from teammate Galder Gaztelu-Iturri (Bilbao, Spain/Lauro Ikastola) at the 93:46 mark. The Warriors avenged an earlier loss at home to the Tritons to pick up the team's first Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) victory of the season.
The Warriors improve to 6-9-2 overall on the year and move to 1-6-1 in conference action. Saturday's match concluded the regular season ICCAC slate for Indian Hills. The Warriors' conference record pits the team as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region XI Tournament Oct. 24-31.
Saturday's match saw the Tritons strike first with a goal in the 30th minute. Both sides traded possessions the remainder of the half until Indian Hills found the equalizer with seconds to play before intermission. Gaztelu-Iturri played a free kick from the left side that found a streaking Pablo Marques (João Pessoa, Brazil/Colégio Meta) for the team's first goal. The score was Marques' team-leading 12th of the year.
The Warriors put together opportunities in the second stanza, but neither side contributed to the scoring column. With seconds to play in regulation, the Tritons broke free into the Warrior box and saw an open net, only for freshman keeper Matteo Scarduzio (San Secondo Parmense, Italy/Fabio Bocchialini) to make a leaping point-blank save to force overtime.
In the overtime session, the Warriors received two corner kick opportunities, the second proved to be the game-changer. Gaztelu-Iturri swung a shot towards a crowded box and Nagaoka was there for the finish.
The Warriors finished the match with eight shots on goal to the Tritons four.
Indian Hills concludes the regular season with a nonconference match at Illinois Central Community College at 6:00 PM on October 19.
OT GAME-WINNER FOR THE WARRIORS!
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) October 16, 2021
Tsubasa Nagaoka headed home the game-winning goal in the extra session to lift @ihccmsoc to a 2-1 road win at Iowa Central.#WeAreHills #WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/FonBeCAyWI