Dutch clutch in defeat of Trojans

Pella — Real estate has a saying about location, location, location. Monday in a Class 2A postseason soccer match, Pella provided a saying for soccer. It’s about possession, possession, possession.

Pella scored three goals in the first half and added another in the second for a 4-0 win over visiting Fairfield. The Dutch kept the ball away from the Trojans high-scoring Xavier Kapijimpanga, who is seventh in Class 2A with 26 goals.

Pella used knowledge learned from Fairfield‘s first game of the year. That was an overtime win for the Trojans in Pella. That game was played on grass at the soccer complex in town. Monday’s match was played on the football field, which is turf.

“We learned from that game, we took a look at that film,” Pella coach Mark Solomon said. ”Xavier is a fantastic forward. Our game plan was centered on him and Juan Rojo, who is very good in the middle. Eli Moore is a very good captain. They have some quality players but having knowledge about our opponent certainly made a difference for us.“

The energy that Fairfield came out with in the first game of the season was used to challenge Pella’s players. The challenge was met because every loose ball seemed to be won by Pella in the first half.

Fairfield changed strategy and formations at halftime. It made a difference as the teams basically played to a scoreless tie except for a corner kick that bounced around hitting the crossbar and going in for a 4-0 Dutch lead,

"You could see that deflated the kids,“ Trojans coach Felisto Guezimane said.

Pella advances to play Fort Madison, the winner over Clear Creek-Amana 5-1. The match will be Wednesday in Pella.

“I wanted to play Fort Madison again,” Guezimane said. “I wanted to beat them.”

It was a tough loss.

“We are not used to playing on turf, and when we beat them it was on the grass," Guezimane said. “The ball just bounces different, faster, and they are used to it, and we had to adjust on the fly.”

It was a big difference, especially in possession time. Fairfield lost the midfield battle, and Guezimane mentioned the turf again regarding that battle.

“We played much better in the second half, and I thought we controlled the game,” Guezimane said. “I thought we really had the momentum until that ball went in on a lucky bounce.”

Kapijimpanga spends most matches running toward the goal but was out at midfield and beyond for large chunks of time against Pella.

“They were able to neutralize Xavier, but when we changed formations and I thought we switched the momentum in our favor,” Guezimane said. “We played much better in the second half.”

It was too big of a mountain to climb with the 3-0 score.

“It will be a good match with Fort Madison and Pella,” Guezimane said. "I just hate playing on turf because all of our conference games are on grass. This is a big change.“

Moore took the loss especially hard. He was alone on a knee on the far part of the field and was consoled by a majority of the team.

“As a senior, he is taking it hard,” Guezimane said. “It was his last chance to play with all of his teammates.”

Some of the seniors talked to the team afterward, telling the underclassmen to keep working in the offseason so that they can come back and be stronger. The underclassmen thanked the seniors for all they had done.

“Helping them develop as they played during the season was one thing they said,” Guezimane said.

It was good for him to hear as a coach. It was a great season for the Trojans and the impetus was there to make next year better.