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Trojans take care of Cardinals, 3-0

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHFING - South Tama County/East Marshall junior Martha Flores (11) celebrates her first of two goals with teammates Takia Rosenberger (4), Leila Shetler (15) and Janette Cervantes during the second half of the Trojans’ 3-0 win over Maquoketa on Monday in Tama. Shetler scored a goal in the first half and Flores had two tallies in the second half to help STC/EM secure its second-straight win.

TAMA — Wins breed confidence, and confidence can lead to more wins.

South Tama County/East Marshall girls’ soccer is experiencing this in real time, with a 3-0 home victory over Maquoketa Monday evening giving the Trojans their second win in a row — improving their overall record to 2-7 on the season.

Maquoketa is now 1-7.

The game began with the Cardinals on the front foot in the opening 5-10 minutes before South Tama worked its way into the game. After some near-misses on the attack, when striker Leila Shelter was almost through on goal before the Cardinals scrambled to prevent a shot attempt, the Trojans finally broke through.

Shelter latched onto a through ball and calmly dispatched a shot into the corner to open the scoring and give STC a 1-0 lead halfway through the first half. For the rest of the half, opportunities were created on both ends but the South Tama defense held firm. Goalkeeper Alyssa Jordan made 16 total saves, but most of them did not require her to make a crazy move to keep the ball out of the Trojans’ net. Head coach Noah Schmelzer was pleased with how well the STC backline did at cleaning up mistakes and not allowing clean opportunities for Maquoketa.

“It’s a testament to the girls’ character that they were able to focus up for 80 minutes and really play well against a team we haven’t had a lot of success against in the past,” Schmelzer said. “We’ve got a good group back there, they’ve been working really hard at making improvements. We’ve got some decent speed back there and we’ve got some smart players.

“I’m really happy with how our defense played, I’m happy with how our goalie stayed ready.”

Heading into the half with a one-goal advantage, the Trojans had to absorb more pressure from the Cardinals at the start of the second half. After five minutes of nearly one-way action, quick passing and good off-ball movement set Martha Flores through on goal. She made no mistake, doubling the lead and giving the Trojans a two-goal cushion to play with in the final 34 minutes.

Less than 10 minutes after the second goal, Flores found herself with another one-on-one against the Cardinals’ keeper. Putting her shot into the top right corner, Flores wheeled away in celebration with her teammates. Leading 3-0 and with all the confidence and momentum, the Trojans came close multiple times to adding a fourth goal. Flores missed a chance to complete her hat-trick in the final two minutes.

Much like in the first half, The Cardinals created some scoring opportunities but rarely troubled Jordan.

STC has now scored seven goals without reply in its last two games, something Schmelzer is pleased to see given how goal-shy the Trojans have been in the season’s early goings.

“When we’ve been successful scoring it’s because we have those transitions and counter-attacks,” Schmelzer said. “We haven’t exactly been burning up the nets this year up to this point, but I feel like having success on Friday really helped build the confidence.

“Seeing a few reach the back of the net, it’s kind of contagious.”

Having played two games in four days and with a matchup against Center Point-Urbana, one of the perennial best teams in the WaMaC West, on the horizon Tuesday evening, Schmelzer said the Trojans’ ability to fight on tiring legs will be put to the test.

“Tomorrow will certainly be a tough test,” Schmelzer said. “We’ll do our best and we’ll come out and compete.”

Kick-off at South Tama is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.