That goal was met on Saturday, however, as MCC rolled to a 5-0 win over the RedTails at home.

The Tigers scored two goals in the first five minutes, both off the foot of leading scorer Kino Ryosuke, on their way to putting up five goals against Hawkeye in the first half.

MCC interim head coach Chris Fuchsen, who continues to fill in for Rafael Martinez, said the goal was to put it on Hawkeye early and see how the RedTails respond.

“We wanted to really test them the first 15 minutes of the game and we did,” Fuchsen said after the win. “Kino scored two goals in the first five minutes and from there we kept the pressure on them and dominated for the entire game. Second half I wish we had been able to move the ball quicker instead of letting them get in some knocks and unnecessary challenges but overall I am totally pleased with our performance.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College forward Kino Ryosuke (10) attempts to go after the ball while Hawkeye Community College defender Alexis Urtuzuastegui (16) grabs his jersey during the Tigers’ 5-0 win over the RedTails. Ryosuke had three goals in the win.

Hawkeye head coach Ben Kososkie said his team wasn’t sharp to start the game, and when you play against a team the quality of the Tigers it’s hard to come back from a slow start.

“Marshalltown is a great team and if you don’t come out ready they have the type of players that can put you down early, and that’s exactly what happened,” Kososkie said.

Ryosuke finished the game with three goals, his second-straight hat trick, while David Kromah and Evandro Resende both added goals of their own. Resende also had an assist on one of Ryosuke’s scores, while leading-assister Rafael Vacas had two assists on the day.

Defensively, the Tigers (8-1, 4-1) were solid throughout the match, making sure goalkeeper Juan Gonzalez only had to make one save in his 60 minutes of play. MCC actually outshot the RedTails (5-5, 1-4) 18-7 in the contest.

Throughout the match, Gonzalez could be seen delivering orders to his defense and helping set up offensive plays, and Fuchsen said a lot of the team’s offensive play starts with how the goalie sets things up.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College defender Breno Scomparim (8) and Hawkeye Community College’s Jaden Fluge (14) jockey for position during the Tigers’ win over the RedTails on Saturday.

“We like to initiate out of the back, create in the midfield and finish plays in the attacking third,” Fuchsen said. “A lot of those were team goals and a couple of them were just tap-ins, which gives a big credit to the rest of the guys around the pitch, be able to work a ball around on a one-two touch and get good goal scoring opportunities. Little tap-ins, strikers love those.”

Anchoring the defense and setting up the offense can seem like a tall task, but Gonzalez said he relishes the opportunity to have so much control over the situation.

“As a goalkeeper, that’s our work,” the Marbella, Spain, native said. “We are another captain of the team and we have to have leadership in our back. It’s a lot of responsibility but goalkeepers love it, that’s our work.”

Fuchsen said Gonzalez has been developing his leadership skills throughout the season between the posts, and this was his best game running things from inside the goal.

“We challenged him to step up his leadership and he delivered that today,” Fuchsen said. “He was a lot more vocal, a lot more positive in his communication and unfortunate for that yellow card but it happens.”

MCC took a 5-0 lead into halftime, and while they continued to develop opportunities at the goal in the second half, Fuchsen said the RedTails did well to keep his Tigers off the board.

“You don’t ever want teams to just bail down and they stepped up their pressure and worked with it,” he said. “They made a game of the second half.”

That extra challenge will be good for the Tigers, as they have a date with No. 6 Indian Hills coming up in less than two weeks at home. Gonzalez said the team has been rolling after its only loss of the season to Iowa Lakes Community College last weekend, but they still have some growing to do before they take on the Warriors.

“We played good, we’ve won two games in a row now and we’ve only lost one against Lakes,” the sophomore goalkeeper said. “We are looking forward now next week going to Minnesota, then we play Indian Hills here and that’s a challenge for this year. We will see, we are going to work to try to win that game.”

Marshalltown CC 5, Hawkeye CC 0

At Marshalltown

First Half

MCC — Kino Ryosuke (Rafael Vacas), 2:50

MCC — Ryosuke (Vacas), 4:06

MCC — David Kromah (Eneko Lasheras), 6:33

MCC — Ryosuke (Evandro Resende), 25:21

MCC — Resenda (Andre Santos), 33:14

Second Half

No scoring.

Goalkeepers — HWK: Vladmir Gonzalez (9 shots on goal-4 saves); MCC: Juan Gonzalez (1-1), Joel Serano (1-1)

Shots — HWK 7, MCC 18

Shots on goal — HWK 2, MCC 9

Fouls — HWK 7, MCC 10

Corner kicks — HWK 3, MCC 4

Yellow cards — Aelxis Urtuzuastegui, HWK, 48:50; Juan Gonzalez, MCC, 58:43.