MONMOUTH, ILL. — An early goal from Brant Mueller (freshman, midfielder, Bettendorf) was all the offense the Central College men's soccer team would need in a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.
           
Central (2-3-0) has now won back-to-back games after starting 0-3.
           
Mueller's goal came in the 15^th minute off of a Kiel Pederson (senior, midfielder, Arlington Heights, Ill., John Hersey HS) corner kick and was aided by a quick touch off the foot of forward Miguel Pina (senior, Chicago, Ill., Taft HS).
           
"It felt right to Brant and tucked it away," coach Garry Laidlaw said."
           
"We get off to a pretty good start. Not only with the goal, but I thought we were creating some good chances and we were maybe a little unlucky to not have gotten a second."
           
Laidlaw said Monmouth took the game to the Dutch in the second half and he was impressed how his team handled it.
           
"Credit to Monmouth, they made some good tactical adjustments and had us on our back foot for a while in the second half," Laidlaw said. "Our guys showed some resiliency. We took a progressive step forward as a team today to withstand their push.
           
Pina put the game on ice in the 85th minute with an unassisted goal. Pina has been the team's leading scorer the last two years.
           
"He's been creating chances and getting chances himself," Laidlaw said. "He's around the net all the time, and he had just been a bit unlucky so far. He hadn't quite found his scoring boots yet. He had a nice flick on for the first goal and a great individual effort with the second goal."
           
Goalie Salvador Salado-Herrera (sophomore, Brooklyn Park, Minn., Park Center HS) notched four saves and a second consecutive clean sheet.
           
A busy weekend for the Dutch includes a home game against Illinois Wesleyan University on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. and a road trip to Galesburg, Illinois to face Knox College on Saturday at 4 p.m.