The schedule called for the Iowa Mennonite soccer team to face off against two of the top teams in the conference this week, resulting in home losses to West Point Marquette and undefeated Pella Christian.

Pella Christian scored twice in the first half and once on the second on-route to a 3-1 win over the Maroon and Black at IMS.

The lone IMS goal came off of long shot from Daniel Yoder in the second half. Yoder fired the ball with his left foot about 25 yards, over the Pella fullbacks and goalkeeper, and skimming under the crossbar. The goal fired up the team and IMS charged ahead, creating several scoring chances in the second, however, they were unable to convert.

The game was also extremely physical, with IMS making several hard slide tackles. As a consequence, several fouls were called and four yellow cards were handed out, two for each team.

“I don’t think Pella was used to having other teams run into them—they were whining a lot,” coach Marcus Miller said. “They are undefeated and I think they are used to having other teams back off a little bit.”

Coach Miller said the IMS keeper Nathan Detweiler played well, as did Shawn Slaubaugh and Tim Yoder in keeping IMS in the game.

“I was pretty pleased with they way we played against them. This is the kind of team that can really make you look bad. I think we played them close of the most part.”

Last Tuesday, the Iowa Mennonite soccer team was dominated by West Point Marquette in a 6-0 shutout at IMS.

“It was one of those nights where everything went well for them and not for us,” coach Marcus Miller said. “They had a couple of forwards, Eric Brunne and Todd Brunne. If you made mistakes against them, they would come through.”

The two Marquette forwards accounted for five of the six Marquette goals of the night; Eric scored three times and Todd had two goals. Excellent transition and passing by Marquette also kept the IMS fullbacks on their heels.

The Maroon and Black was able to exert some offensive pressure with several drives deep into the Marquette zone, but the Marquette fullbacks were able to turn the ball around and create opportunities for their own midfielders and forwards. IMS mustered 18 shots on goal, but none of them found the back of the net.

“We were able to create some chances, but they had the speediest fullbacks we have seen all year,” Miller said. “We did get shots, but they weren’t real high quality shots.”

Miller singled out the play of forward/midfielder Luke Gingerich and Midfielder/fullback Cameron Conrad who helped create several IMS scoring chances.

IMS is now 2-7.