Southeast Polk sophomore Elaina DeAngelo wasted no time getting her offense going with a goal just 59 seconds into the game, and that would be the first of many scores for the Rams as the Bobcats dropped their first home match, 9-0.

MHS head girls soccer coach Leigh Hornbuckle, who coached in his first home game in the loss, said his team just wasn’t prepared to compete when the game kicked off.

“They were very apprehensive coming out, just how we have been against Southeast Polk in the past,” he said. “They came out with the wrong mindset, they didn’t come out thinking, ‘hey, it’s our first home game, let’s play the game,’ they were thinking, ‘hey, we’re going to get beat.'”

After DeAngelo’s first-minute goal, Samantha Albertson would find the back of the net twice before the 10-minute mark, once in the sixth minute and again in the ninth. It would be almost another 30 minutes before the Bobcats (0-5, 0-1) surrendered another score, but Albertson would break through again for her third goal of the first half in the 36th minute.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown junior Avygail Smith, right, saves a shot from Southeast Polk attacker Samantha Albertson (20) while Aida Almanza (2) defends during the first half of the Bobcats’ 9-0 loss to the Rams in their home opener at Leonard Cole Field on Tuesday.

Madison Morales added yet another first-half goal with less than two seconds before halftime, and the Rams (3-4, 1-0) would head into the break up 5-0.

That quickly became 7-0 at the start of the second with Lauren Kirkle scoring twice in a 30-second span, once in the 43rd minute and again in the 44th minute. The final two scores for Southeast Polk were both from DeAngelo in the 52nd and 68th minutes, giving DeAngelo and Albertson hat tricks on the evening.

Despite being outshot 44-0, Hornbuckle said his defensive back line of Aida Almanza, Jade Tejada, Madison Schumacker and Mariana Ordaz did everything they could to keep the pressure off goalkeeper Avygail Smith, but the Rams were just relentless and when Almanza went down with an injury in the second half it truly depleted the defensive intensity.

“They count on each other, but we have a gap in our midfield. Our defense is solid, but now we will have a huge hole missing because it looks like Aida Almanza is out for a while with her ankle,” Hornbuckle said. “We have holes in our midfield and we can’t get the ball to our forwards, so that’s something we will have to deal with right now.”

Smith had 11 saves to go with her six goals allowed, and the only offensive statistic Marshalltown had was a corner kick in the second half that was fizzled out quickly by a tough Southeast Polk defense.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Hornbuckle said it was honestly encouraging that his girls didn’t give up a 10th goal and played until the final horn sounded, but now they need to turn their eyes toward a game against a winless Fort Dodge team on Friday night.

“The main thing about this game was to not get mercy ruled at home. That’s done and over, now we have to go up to Fort Dodge and it’s a winnable game,” he said. “We have the talent we have, but we can’t go in with the mindset that we are going to lose. We have to go in to play our game, and if we play our game I think we have a good chance.”

The Bobcats and Dodgers will face off at Dodger Stadium on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with the victor earning their first win of the season.

Southeast Polk 9, Marshalltown 0

At Marshalltown

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

First Half

SEP — Elaina DeAngelo, :59.

SEP — Samantha Albertson, 5:32.

SEP — Albertson, 8:18.

SEP — Albertson, 35:20.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

SEP — Madison Morales, 39:58.

Second Half

SEP — Lauren Kirkle, 42:53.

SEP — Kirkle, 43:16.

SEP — DeAngelo, 51:32.

SEP — DeAngelo, 67:06.

Goalkeepers — SEP: Kennedy Buntenbach (0 shots on goal-0 saves), Kali Peebler (0-0); MHS: Avygail Smith (17-6), Damaris Garcia (5-2).

Shots — SEP 44, MHS 0.

Shots on Goal — SEP 22, MHS 0.

Corners — SEP 6, MHS 1.