PELLA— A 2-0 halftime lead for the Central College men's soccer team melted away in a 3-2 loss to the University of Dubuque Saturday afternoon.
           
The Dutch (4-4-2, 0-2-0 American Rivers Conference) struck first against the Spartans (4-5-1, 1-1-0 conference) on Carter Newhouse's (freshman, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) second goal of the week in the 33rd minute. Lay Doe Htoo (freshman, Des Moines, North HS) had the assist.
           
"There's a reason he's been playing more and more lately," coach Garry Laidlaw said. "He continues to impress and play well. He was rewarded with a goal."
           
The halftime lead was extended to 2-0 with a Dubuque own goal in the 43rd minute.
           
"We played great in the first half and deserved the 2-0 lead,"
           
All three of Dubuque's second half goals were off the foot of Drew Wisdom and were taken from outside of the box.
           
"For the first 15 minutes of the second half, we just didn't play enough soccer," Laidlaw said. "We failed to close them down in the midfield. It's really disappointing to allow three shots from outside the box. That shouldn't happen and we must be better."
           
It was Central's fourth match in seven days and the tired legs were multiplied with the absence of starting defender Alejo Marcon (sophomore, Resistencia, Argentina, Pella Christian HS) due to a family event.
           
"We had to reshuffle the deck across the back with him being gone," Laidlaw said. "We were brilliant in the first half but we got a little bit ragged in the second half. We allowed them to play too many balls into our end."
           
The Dutch have another home match on Wednesday at 1 p.m. against Buena Vista University.
           
"We need to learn from this and show some maturity and rest up and rebound," Laidlaw said. "There's a lot to play for on Wednesday."