PELLA—In an all-too familiar ending to an Iowa Conference match for the Central College men's soccer team, the Dutch were defeated by an overtime penalty kick in a 2-1 loss Saturday against Wartburg College.
In a controversial finish against Simpson last Saturday, the Dutch watched as a penalty kick became a game-winning goal in the first overtime period. It was a similar situation this time around as the Knights (7-1-1, 2-0-0 conference) handed the Dutch (7-2-0, 0-2-0 IIAC) a second league loss.
"It's unfortunate to work so hard and get nothing out of a game twice in league play," coach
Garry Laidlaw said.
Central needed a last-minute goal in regulation to send the match into overtime. Sophomore forward
Ian Meentemeyer (sophomore, Hartsburg, Mo., Southern Boone County HS) headed in an assist from junior midfielder
Daniel Alanis (Phoenix, Ariz., Apollo HS) to make it 1-1 with less than three minutes remaining,
"We got a free kick in a pretty good location," Laidlaw said. "Daniel stepped up and placed a ball nicely into a dangerous area of the box. Ian made a super run at it and got his head on it to flick it over the keeper."
The overtime period started well but ultimately ended unkindly with Wartburg knocking home a penalty kick.
"We were confident going into overtime that we could pull it out," Laidlaw said. "We actually started out very well the first couple of minutes. We were able to take the play to them a little bit. We just got out of position a little bit and it led to a penalty kick.
The Dutch will look to pick up their first Iowa Conference victory against the Coe College Kohawks Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Cedar Rapids.
"At some point we've got to start turning good efforts into points," Laidlaw said. "Every game is worth three and we've got to go out there with the intent to earn all three points. We knew our conference games we're going to be like this and I don't expect that to change."
