Ottumwa, IA – The No. 7 nationally ranked Indian Hills Men's Soccer team opened up its 2024 campaign with an impressive 5-0 victory over Marshalltown Community College during the opening day of the IHCC Classic.
Head coach Zac Newton, in his inaugural season at the helm of the program recorded his first-career win at Indian Hills with the victory. The Warriors were led by four different scorers, including Fernando Pirri (Cordoba, Spain/IES Francisco de los Rios) who tallied two goals in the opening half to push Indian Hills to the shutout.
The five goals are the most scored in a single game against Marshalltown in school history. The Warriors had previously never beaten the Tigers by more than one goal. The five goals are also the most in a season opener in school history while the shutout was the first season-opening shutout for the Warriors since 2013.
Pirri, who ranked second on the team in goals as a freshman, kicked off his sophomore campaign with two goals in the span of six minutes. Pirri put the Warriors on the board with a goal off a rebound in the 17th minute before doubling the lead in the 23rd minute after receiving a long through ball from fellow sophomore Daniel Mulero (Asturias, Spain/Salesianos Santo Angel Aviles).
Indian Hills pushed the advantage to 3-0 with just under three minutes to play in the opening half as Juan Ricaurte (Cali, Colombia/Los Andes) headed home a corner kick from freshman Diego Lazaro (Laval, Canada/Horizon-Jeunesse).
The Warriors wasted little time to extend the lead to 4-0 with a strike in the 48th minute. Sophomore Lucas Bauer (Oldenburg, Germany/IGS Kreyenbruck), who scored five goals as a freshman, forced a Marshalltown turnover before finding the back of the net. The Warriors tacked on one more tally in the 73rd minute after Mulero beat a defender one-on-one to cap the scoring.
Thursday marked the second consecutive season opener that Pirri tallied two goals in the Warriors' first match of the season after doing so as a freshman in 2023. Pirri added an assist against Marshalltown on Thursday and has now posted 19 career points.
Along with his second half goal, Mulero added a pair of assists in the opening frame. The sophomore midfielder tied for the team lead last year as a freshman with five assists.
Sophomore keeper Bernardo Manzano (Palmas, Brazil/Layton Christian Academy) was credited with the shutout, needing just one save to pitch the complete game clean sheet.
The Warriors return to action Saturday against Prairie State College (IL) as part of the IHCC Classic. Kick-off is set for 11:00 AM. Prairie State is scheduled to take on Northeast Community College (NE) at the IHCC Soccer Complex on Friday with a 1:00 PM start.
HOW TO WATCH
As always, GoHillsTV provides free live broadcasts of Indian Hills men's soccer matches. Fans can tune in a number of ways all season long:
- Facebook: visit www.facebook.com/gohillstv
- GoHillsTV App: Download the GoHillsTV app on your android or ios device
- Website: https://www.gohillstv.com/browse to catch all live and archived information
- Roku Streaming Device: Have a Roku TV or streaming stick? Download the GoHillsTV app to start streaming today!
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