Ottumwa, IA – In a battle of two nationally ranked squads, No. 1 Indian Hills stormed back from a late deficit to knock off No. 19 Lewis & Clark 5-4 at the IHCC Soccer Complex on Friday. Indian Hills remains unbeaten on the year at 13-0-2.
Freshman Santiago Cardenas (Lima, Peru/Bruno Traverso Damonti) tallied a hat trick while sophomore Lucas Bauer (Oldenburg, Germany/IGS Kreyenbruck) collected a pair of goals to power the Warrior offense. Sophomore Daniel Mulero (Asturias, Spain/Salesianos Santo Angel Aviles) continued an unprecedented season with a historic individual performance that included four assists in the victory.
After each team collected a goal in the opening half, the second stanza saw a flurry of scores that resulted in seven goals in a span of less than 19 minutes. The Warriors put home two goals in the span of 50 seconds to open the frame before the Trailblazers responded with three consecutive tallies. Indian Hills responded with two scores in quick succession before holding off Lewis & Clark down the stretch to prevail.
Friday's victory proved to be the Warriors' fourth win over a top-20 nationally ranked squad this year, marking the second consecutive season Indian Hills has produced at least four top-20 victories. The Warriors' 13 victories are tied for the most in the nation this year. Indian Hills is one of just six unbeaten teams remaining in the nation.
Both sides made the most of their scoring opportunities as Indian Hills scored on five of its eight shots on target while the Trailblazers converted four of its seven strikes on goal. The Warriors earned five corner kicks to four for Lewis & Clark.
Freshman keeper Hugo Sotomayor (Murcia, Spain/IES Alcantara) earned the win in net for the Warriors to improve to 3-0-0 on the year. Sotomayor stopped three shots on the day.
Cardenas' scoring spree opened at the 9:48 mark of the first half as the freshman was on the receiving end of Mulero's first assist of the day. Indian Hills held the one-goal advantage until Lewis & Clark put home a goal in the 34th minute as the match went into halftime deadlocked at one.
The Warriors came out of the break firing on all cylinders as Bauer tallied his first goal of the match at the 49:41 mark on an assist from Diego Lazaro (Laval, Canada/Horizon-Jeunesse). Bauer broke free just 30 seconds later and buried his first touch in mid-air on a cross from Gonzalo Garcia (Catagena, Spain/Colegio) to give Indian Hills a commanding 3-1 lead.
The Trailblazers responded almost immediately, scoring 1:05 later to pull back within one. Lewis & Clark tacked on back-to-back goals at the 54:55 and 62:22 marks to take its first lead of the match.
Playing a man down for the last 30 minutes of the contest, the Warriors answered Lewis & Clark at the 64:22 mark to even the contest at four-all. Mulero played a ball from midfield that found a streaking Cardenas for the equalizer.
With both sides battling for victory, it was Indian Hills who scored the eventual game-winner with a strike in the 68th minute. Alessandro Peruz (Calalzo di Cadore, Italy/Enrico Fermi) and Mulero teamed up to slip a pass to Cardenas who in turn beat the Trailblazer keeper, capping the freshman's first-career hat trick.
The short-sided Warriors were able to fend off a furious push in the closing minutes from Lewis & Clark for the program's first all-time win in four meetings with the Trailblazers.
Mulero becomes just the second player in school history to tally four assists in a contest while the sophomore's 14 assists on the year rank second all-time in a single season. Mulero now boasts 19 career assists, third-most in school history and moves into sole possession in the record books with 49 career points. Mulero is tied for second in the nation this year with his 14 assists while his 38 points are tied for third-most nationally.
As a team, Indian Hills has now scored 54 goals on the year, tied for third-most in a single season in school history. With the win, the Warriors extend their unbeaten home winning streak to 18 contests, dating back to October 6, 2022 when Lewis & Clark handed Indian Hills its last home defeat.
The Warriors hit the road for their final regular season Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) showdown with No. 4 nationally ranked Iowa Western Community College. The two sides earned a 3-3 draw in Ottumwa on October 13.
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