Rene Hernandez

PLEASANT HILL — The Class 3A No. 15 Marshalltown boys soccer team took its winning streak on the road on Tuesday and handed Southeast Polk a 3-0 CIML Iowa Conference loss.

The win was the sixth straight for the streaking Bobcats (6-1, 1-0) and it came off the foot of three different players.

Rene Hernandez got the scoring started in the first half, which allowed MHS to take a 1-0 lead into halftime, then Jose Torres scored his seventh goal in the last six games and Jack Play found the back of the net for the first time this season.

Marshalltown head boys soccer coach Scott Johannes said the diversity in scoring against a tough opponent was big for his team.

“It was great to see a couple of players find the back of the net,” Johannes said. “[Assistant coach Bobby Shomo] said earlier in the day Jack was going to score tonight, I was so glad to see it happened. Jack has had some good shots, but was unable to find the net until tonight.”

As for how his team kept the Rams (5-5, 0-1), Johannes credited his strong midfield for handling the game.

“The midfield did a great job of controlling the flow tonight. They were there to connect with the defense and push the ball up to the front line,” Johannes said. “We’ve talked about the pitch being divided into thirds and it’s so important to control the middle third and tonight our middle men did just that, they controlled the ball and the middle of the field.”

When the ball did get past the midfield, Bobcat goalkeeper Jesus Munoz was there to clean things up, finishing with three saves. Munoz has yet to allow a goal since an opening 3-0 loss to No. 12 Urbandale.

Marshalltown will be back at the friendly confines of Leonard Cole Field on Friday with a home game against Fort Dodge, starting at 7:30 p.m.