IMS soccer falls in tourney

It was the home tournament for the Iowa Mennonite soccer team on Saturday afternoon, and they set themselves up with a tough slate.

Two 2A schools (Fairfield and Fort Madison) were in attendance, joining West Liberty in the four-team tournament, which saw IMS drop both of its games.

In the opening game against Fairfield, IMS wasn?t able to get much going offensively, falling 5-0 to the Trojans

Kobi Russom made 15 saves for IMS in the game, which made sure things didn?t get out of hand.

?Russom?s ability to step out of the box helped cut off some of Fairfield?s dangerous through balls before they could turn into scoring chances,? IMS head coach Marcus Miller said.

Miller also noted the chances IMS created in the second half, but Fairfield managed to keep IMS out of the back of the net.

In the third-place match, Iowa Mennonite took on Fort Madison, who has been receiving votes in the Class 2A rankings.

The Bloodhounds opened up the scoring 10 minutes into the game, but IMS responded with its first goal of the day, as Jacob Schmieder found Danny Lam in front of the net to tie things back up at 1.

IMS carried that momentum for much of the first half, as Lam found Anthony Villatoro for a goal, making it 2-1.

Fort Madison responded on a breakaway right before halftime, making it 2-2 at the break.

The score would hold until nine minutes left, when Fort Madison broke the tie, and as IMS pushed forward to try to tie the game back up, the Bloodhounds found an opening and took advantage.

Kirby Shetler scored for IMS late, but it was too late as IMS fell 5-3.

West Liberty won the tournament, defeating Fort Madison 4-1, then Fairfield 5-4 in the championship game.

IMS moves to 3-3 overall on the season and sits in first place in the conference with a 3-1 record. They will host a conference foe on Monday, as they take on Columbus at 5:30 p.m.