IW men?s soccer gets in winner?s column

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

It?s been a week of firsts for Iowa Wesleyan fall sports. On Friday night, the IW men?s soccer team picked up its first win of the year, defeating Central Christian College, 4-3 at home.

It looked as though goals would be hard to come by on a rainy Mt. Pleasant afternoon. Through the first 16 minutes, the teams battled back and forth, but struggled to get shots off with a light rain coming down.

Central Christian struck first in the 17th minute to take a one goal lead, but shortly after, the rain began to fall harder. With conditions worsening, it was Iowa Wesleyan who used the weather to its advantage. Ivan Bello-Ponce tied the game up in the 21st minute, and Gabriel Torres gave the Tigers the lead in the 34th minute before a long delay took place due to lightning.

After the delay was over, the score remained 2-1 until halftime. In the second half, the Tigers continued to poor on goals. Efrain Anaya made it 3-1 with a goal in the 50th minute. Then, Torres gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the season with his second goal of the game in the 67th minute to make the score 4-1.

Central Christian scored goals in the 72nd and 77th minutes, but the IW defense tightened up late and held on for their first win since Oct. 26, 2013.

On Sunday, IW fell short of making it two in a row by falling to Cornell College, by the score of 2-0. But the Tigers were able to scoop up another win on Wednesday night at Fairhaven Baptist. Wesleyan defeated Fairhaven 3-0 for their second win in one week.

The Tigers will try to keep up their momentum on Saturday at home against Greenville. The two teams will play at 1 p.m., with the women?s game following.