The Allen County Community College men’s soccer team came into Wednesday’s match versus Ottawa JV with just two goals scored in three games, none of those being wins.
The Red Devils more than tripled that total as they beat the Braves 7-0 on the back of a strong offensive first half.
“We needed to get a win,” head coach Doug Desmarteau said. “We’ve dominated a lot of our games and we just haven’t been able to finish. This will get our confidence up going into conference play on Tuesday.”
In the first half the goals came early and often as they scored within the first five minutes and added three more before the half ended.
“I thought we moved the ball really well in the first half,” Desmarteau said. “All three of our starting forwards scored and that’s a good thing because a couple of them just needed a goal to get their confidence flowing,” Desmarteau said. “This isn’t as good of competition as we’ve been playing but it’s good to get a win.”
The second half nearly equaled the production of the first half but all three points were scored on penalty kicks in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The crowd on hand to watch the win may have been small, but finally getting to play a home game this season more than made up for it for the Devils.
“We’ve been on the road for six of the last seven days,” Desmarteau said. “So it’s nice to be home and get a win in front of our fans and maybe we’ll get some more people out here next game. If we hold our home turf and then try to get some wins on the road we’ll be fine in the conference.”
It’s good that the Red Devils enjoying being at home because for the next four games, they won’t be going anywhere. Part of that four games include opening up the conference season which Desmarteau hopes his team can be competitive in.
Only three KJCCC teams received votes in the NJCAA preseason poll and just one of those teams, No. 7 Cloud County, is ranked in the top 20 leaving room for the Red Devils to make a run at the postseason.
“Our conference is always tough,” Desmarteau said. “There are a lot of internationals but we have a team that we feel like can compete. Our ultimate goal every year is get into the playoffs and see what happens from there.”
The Red Devils bring back a solid core of nine sophomore that have been incredibly helpful to Desmarteau both in practice and off the field.
“We’ve got some good leaders in there,” Desmarteau said. “The younger guys respect them. We’ve been on the road and the younger guys have gotten better and gotten their feet wet at key positions. They police a lot of a the stuff on and off the field so we don’t have to.”
Freshman forward Daniel Guardado is one of those younger guys that has stood out so far this season for Allen County as he scored the first (and only) two goals in the Red Devils first three games.
“He’s really dangerous up top,” Desmarteau said. “He scored two goals in our first two games and he creates a lot of opportunities for everybody. I also think (freshman middle) Wilmer Canales in the midfield is unbelievable. He’s super technical and does a really good job.”
Red Devils grab first win in home opener
