PELLA — A slow start to the match forced the Central College men's soccer team to play from behind for 80 minutes in a 3-1 loss against Westminster College (Mo.) Wednesday.

Facing its toughest competition to date against the Blue Jays (4-1), the three-time defending St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions, the Dutch (4-2) had a subpar start, culminating in an early goal.

"I was really disappointed in the way we started the game," coach Garry Laidlaw said. "We came out sloppy and pretty flat. Good teams like Westminster are going make to you pay. It was a good lesson for our team to learn at this point in the season."

The quality of play went up for Central shortly after the goal according to Laidlaw, but the squad faced an uphill battle the rest of the game.

"I was happy with our play after the 15-minute mark," he said. "In the second half, we really took the game to them and started wearing them down. We had to take some gambles on defense, which led to the last two goals. I think the score line was a little harsh on us tonight."

Westminster's second-half goals were sandwiched around freshman forward Ian Meentemeyer's (Hartburg, Mo., Southern Boone County HS) strike in the 86th minute, his fifth goal of the season.

"Ian can finish," Laidlaw said. "He works so hard in defending. He gets rewarded for his hard work that maybe isn't on the stat sheet."

The Dutch were without two key upperclassmen, senior defender and captain Adelmo Marchiori IV (Carlinville, Ill.) and junior defender Calvin Bill (Hartsburg, Mo., Souther Boone County HS) but Laidlaw didn't feel that affected his team too much.

"We're a team of shared leadership this year," he said. "We need to be able to adapt without having certain players. All of our players are expected to do a job when they are in the game and they have been capable of doing so this year."

Central continues its home stand with a match against Principia College (Ill.) on Saturday at noon.