Des Moines Roosevelt triumphed, 2-1, at Leonard Cole Field on Tuesday, a bitter pill to swallow for the Bobcat girls coming off a 1-0 loss at home to Cedar Falls the night prior.

“Their two goals came from set pieces, which is always hard,” MHS head coach Stacy Galema said. “You feel like you’re in the right position and then as pieces move it throws things off, unlike where you can see it happening when you’re in the flow of the game.”

Savannah Carlson’s strike from a direct kick 35 yards out with 15 minutes left in the second half was the difference maker, breaking a 1-1 halftime tie as the Roughriders held off a couple last-ditch scoring attempts for the Bobcats before time expired.

Esme Chavez Gomez, who put together another exceptional performance in net for Marshalltown, narrowly misjudged the angle of Carlson’s lofty kick after minutes before making an incredible swatting save diving to her right on an earlier attempt by Roosevelt at a go-ahead goal.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown senior midfielder Carroll Gomez-Reyes (3) tries to dribble past Des Moines Roosevelt’s Hope Reagan (9) during the first half of Tuesday’s soccer match at Leonard Cole Field.

“It’s an unfortunate one and I know she feels bad about it,” Galema said. “But the way she plays in net keeps us in a lot of games and all the other saves she made kept us there tonight.”

Galema didn’t see the Bobcats sulk after that second goal, pushing together as a unit and getting a pair of opportunities in the final five minutes, including a corner kick and an attempted run-out by Alexia Garcia, that ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net.

“I think our inside midfielders did a much better job today of controlling the ball,” Galema said. “They had three midfielders in the middle and we were able to hold our own, 3-on-2, and making sure we covered some of those switches was the big things on the defensive side.”

In the first half, Rylee Bray scored first for Roosevelt six minutes in, but Marshalltown got their answer 13 minutes later when a Yuri Ramirez corner kick pinballed off two Roosevelt defenders and rolled to the foot of McKenna Coleman, who attacked at the goal line to score for the Bobcats.

“She’s always gonna do her best to win a ball, and anytime it’s in front of the goal you’ve got to take a chance,” Galema said. “You just have to get it going in the right direction.”

Marshalltown will try to end the week on a high note at Mason City on Friday. The Riverhawks blasted the Bobcats 9-0 last year, but MHS has already shown improvement this week against teams that previously beat them by large margins last year.

“We know the opportunities are there and that we’re in these games,” Galema said. “At some point, we’ve got to find a way to win these close games, and I know that’s in the back of their head. We just have to stay focused going forward and find some more goals for our team.”