No. 7 IMS gets road triumph

MEDIAPOLIS - After losing to Southeat Iowa Super conference foe Notre Dame, Iowa Mennonite School dropped in the Class 1A soccer rankings from No. 4 to No. 7 and Notre Dame has moved up to No. 3.

Iowa Mennonite played Mediapolis Tuesday a bit short-handed with two starters missing, but found a way to pick up the road win with a 3-1 score.

Playing on turf for the first time this season, it took IMS some time to adjust to the way the ball bounced and rolled.

Despite maintaining possession and creating some offensive pressure, IMS found it difficult to generate many decent shots in the first half as the Mediapolis defense bottled things up in front of them.

'While the midfield and forwards struggled to find consistency, the back line of Kobe Borntrager, Eli Ours, John Hughes and Jorge Canchola continually stymied the Mediapolis offense,” IMS coach Marcus Miller said. 'The few chances created by Mediapolis were snuffed out by Cody Jones, filling in at goalie.”

With 1 minute left in the half, IMS finally scored as Jacob Boller sent a ball to Louis Etienne, who turned the ball by the goalkeeper.

'The second half was more of the same as the offense struggled to find a sense of consistency and rhythm,” Miller said. 'The defense continued to hold on to the 1-0 lead and began to help create a bit of offensive pressure. On one beautiful sequence Canchola and Hughes moved down the left side with efficient passing, springing Canchola into the box where he served up a lovely ball in front of the goal only to see the shot fly over the goal.”

With just under 3 minutes in the game, Boller and Etienne struck again as Boller took a shot with the ball deflecting to Etienne who struck the ball into the net.

One minute later, Etienne served the ball to Boller who scored for the 3-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, Mediapolis put a shot on goal, with the ball curving into the net with 25 seconds showing on the clock for the final 3-1 score.

IMS moves its record 4-1 and returns to action Monday at Fairfield.