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MCC relying on team strength at nationals

With less than a minute left in their Great Lakes District match against Morton College, the Marshalltown Community College men’s soccer team trailed 1-0 and it seemed its hopes of a berth in the national tournament were coming to an end.

That all changed when defender Aleix Viladot found the back of the net for a desperation goal with 19 seconds left, sending the game into overtime and eventually penalty kicks where the Tigers would prevail and earn a spot in their third-ever NJCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championships.

Viladot’s late-game heroics weren’t the first time a defender has scored an important goal for MCC. In fact players like Leonardo Tomasi, Rafael Ramos and Manoel dos Passos all have stepped up and delivered scoring strikes while not playing their typical position on the back line.

Tiger head coach Rafael Martinez said he isn’t surprised by his defender’s ability to get things done offensively, and in fact he thinks nearly everyone on his bench could step in and do the same.

“We’ve said this from the beginning, we have a full roster of capable guys,” Martinez said. “Some days there will be some guys that make the biggest contribution when it comes to goals or sets or saves, and some days it will be somebody else. The key to me was to maintain the high level of intensity throughout the entire season so everyone is sharp and ready to go.”

It was in fact Ramos who scored the final penalty kick against Morton to send the Tigers into the national tournament, and he said before heading to the line for his final shot all he could think about was not letting the team down.

“The most important thing for me was to see all my teammates run to me and they were just so happy because we won,” Ramos said. “That for me was the best.”

MCC is currently seventh in the nation in goals scored as a team, but the No. 5 Tigers don’t have a single player ranked in the top 10 in goals scored individually. Sophomore Rafael Vacas is 20th in the nation with 18 goals to his name, but Tomasi — who is the other captain along with Ramos — said they are better as a team because of how well-rounded everyone is individually.

“This year we don’t have a special guy, we are a really good unit,” Tomasi said. “Everyone is doing our best in our positions, and when you have a group that has the same goal and the same mentality things work out. I think as a unit we are really strong and we have the same goals, that’s what makes this team special.”

The Tiger defense is just as potent as their offense, as they are fifth in the nation in goals allowed with just 11 surrendered on the year. Vacas said their offensive production actually starts on the defensive side.

“The best thing for us is we start with good defense and then we go to offense,” the NJCAA Region XI Player of the Year said. “We have really good defensive players like Aleix and Leonardo and Rafa, all the time they win all the balls. Then the strikers like me, Kazuki [Kimura], Sekou [Kromah], we get the ball because they play good defense all the time. The first goal of the team is to play good defense, then go to the attack.”

Tomasi of course put that back on Vacas, saying he is only able to play as well as he does defensively because of the offense.

“We are a unit that can cover that part that maybe, for example, I’m not good in a situation but I have [Vacas] to do that,” Tomasi said. “Then maybe I’m better to defend and if he makes a mistake I am there to cover him. We are just 11 on the field but sometimes it seems like we are 12 guys because everyone is stepping up for each other. This is something that is really special and makes you work harder for you teammates.”

While the Tigers are a top defensive team, goalkeeper Joel Serrano is tied for 127th in saves with 40 on the year. He is tied for 30th in goals allowed with nine, however, and that has a lot to do with the overall defensive prowess of the entire team.

“This team since the first day, we have been a really good group. I think that’s part of why we are heading to nationals, that’s the glue of this team,” Serrano said. “We are just one, we have been working really hard and focused on that. We have very good players that can do everything on the field.”

That ability to have everyone seemingly involved throughout the pitch is truly a special quality, and it’s one that Martinez said partially stems from the leadership of the entire sophomore class.

“I think it is a fantastic group of leaders, we have the captains obviously and they are the ones wearing the armbands but we have other leaders on the team that are equally important in regards to maintaining a positive group environment and maintaining expectations that we set for ourselves throughout the year,” Martinez said. “There is a great deal of humility in the group, even among the ones that are playing the most, and that makes it a lot easier for everyone.”

With that kind of leadership, Martinez said it’s easier to install what will help the guys win on the pitch, and it helps that each and every guy with an MCC jersey has faith in what he and the coaching staff is trying to do.

“Everything in soccer requires the entire group to buy into the idea. The main focus of the coaching staff is to guide them or help them find the best approach on the field that is going to give us the best chance of being successful,” he said. “Everyone has to buy into that idea, both defensively, offensively and in transition. Everyone has bought into that, therefore everyone knows what to do in each phase of the game.

“Once they all understand their role and they are proud of applying that role on the field, then we look like a team that is playing together and not a bunch of individuals with the same jersey.”

With 27 talented players on the roster and just 11 spots to play them in, it’s been a careful balancing act for Martinez to both make sure he has the right roster out on the pitch at the right time and to make sure he isn’t alienating players who think they should see more playing time.

“I played the game and I know that those people who are on the field are very happy, and those that are on the bench are a little unhappy,” he said. “At the same time if everyone buys into the role and knows that their role is important, then it’s a lot easier. I think we have had a lot of games and a lot of minutes for everyone.Certainly there have been guys who have been on the field a lot more consistently than others, but I never felt that we had a player or group of players that were unhappy with the year.”

Ramos said he sees one of his roles as a captain is to help Martinez in that situation by interacting with the players who don’t see as much play time and encouraging them to stay involved.

“I know it’s difficult sometimes when you don’t play, and I understand this,” Ramos said. “Sometimes I tell the guys that ‘your time is going to arrive. Wait, just work hard and you will get a chance.’ That’s one thing I like to do to help my teammates and that’s why I like being captain too.”

There might be moments when anyone on the bench could be called upon during this national tournament run, which starts today with Pool D play against No. 9 Cowley College at 4 p.m., and Vacas said it will be key that no matter who is called upon to play, they go out and play Marshalltown soccer.

“We need to be a team there, we need to go step by step. We need to not worry about who’s looking at me or who is there, but we need to be who we are,” he said. “We need to play and enjoy, we need to show our game. We practice every day and and we work hard, it’s going to be a really good experience for us.”

Cowley ranks 27th in goals scored this year with 60 but it has a stingy defense, allowing just 19 goals all season. Martinez said it will be important for his guys to go in with a plan and execute it.

“We have to know what we want to do,” he said. “We need to know what is the best plan to be successful in each game and we all have to buy into it. We might adjust, maybe change from one game to another or even from one phase of the game to another, but we all have to perform as a unit.”

While it will be all business in the game, this is still a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the Tiger players to share, and Vacas said he is going to soak up every minute of it.

“This is the best thing that’s happened in my life, for me and for every sophomore,” he said. “It’s a really good opportunity, we need to go there and show who we are.”

Martinez agreed with his talented sophomore striker, and after seeing an MCC team finish third in the national tournament as an assistant coach in 2007, he said enjoying the moment is a crucial aspect to having success at that level.

“We have to go there with confidence in the fact that we have worked very hard throughout the season and this is a reward, the ability to compete with the best in the country,” he said. “Those teams are just as talented, they are going to work as a unit as well, and it’s just a matter of being the best on the field that particular moment of the day.”

Men’s Soccer

NJCAA Division I National Championship

At Daytona Beach, Fla.

Monday, Nov. 12

MCC vs. Cowley College, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

MCC vs. Eastern Florida State, 4 p.m.

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