The Bobcats didn’t have the numbers going the other way to get an equalizer against Cedar Falls, stumbling in a 1-0 loss to the Tigers in MHS’ home opener at Leonard Cole Field.

“We were trying to get our opportunities in transition,” MHS head coach Stacy Galema said. “That’s hard to send a ball deep and go run after it — we needed to move as an entire offense instead of these times where we’d have one girl going down there 1-on-3, 1-on-4. We need more bodies transitioning up, that’s how you build up an offense.”

Ella Ubben scored five minutes in for Cedar Falls (1-1), and while the Tigers continued to hammer away at the Bobcat goal, MHS keeper Esme Chavez Gomez and the defense was able to stand tall, a considerable improvement from last season’s 6-0 blowout loss in Cedar Falls.

“We did really well keeping them out of our 18 (-yard box), … I think they were getting a little frustrated there by the end, not getting the opportunities they were used to,” Galema said. “…A lot of their shots were coming from 25-30 yards out, which gave Esme more time to react and adjust to the ball. They still had their opportunities but Esme came up with some big saves and I think our defense probably played their most complete game, start to finish.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown junior midfielder Kenya Gomez Reyes, left, gains possession of the ball in front of Cedar Falls midfielder Dillan Hall during Monday’s soccer match at Leonard Cole Field.

After splitting time with Alexia Garcia and Lilyia Christen in net last season, Chavez Gomez has been the go-to keeper for the Bobcats so far this season.

“She’s somebody you’ll hear anytime she’s on the field,” Galema said. “She does a tremendous job of keeping us organized, knowing where their players are and that’s a big part of how we were as successful as we were against them defensively.”

Possession was hard to come by against a physical, steady Cedar Falls team.

Marshalltown came out in the second half with a few shots from Yuri Ramirez and Alexia Garcia to put some pressure on Cedar Falls — the Tigers often denied most other attempts at punching through their defense.

“They know how to shield and use their body to control the ball,” Galema said. “They know how to get you kind of going off balance.”

Galema believes Cedar Falls is one of the better teams they’ll see all season, and the experience will be useful moving forward, starting with a matchup with Roosevelt today back at Leonard Cole Field.

“We’re not a team that backs down from physicality,” Galema said. “We know we can hang with them and we’re not just going to let teams come in and do whatever they want on the field, we’re able to do what we want at the same time.”