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Oct. 18, 2008Central squeaks out 1-0 win over Simpson
PELLA—Central College midfielder Nick DeLucia (sophomore, Urbana, Ill.) broke a scoreless tie in the 73rd minute, giving the Dutch a 1-0 Iowa Conference men’s soccer victory over Simpson College. DeLucia took an assist from defender Ben Heithoff (senior, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln HS) with 17:43 remaining for his sixth goal of the season.
Central (10-5 overall, 5-1 conference) was able to overcome a sluggish first half in which Simpson (5-7-2 overall, 3-3 conference) held a 7-6 shot advantage. The Dutch turned up the heat after the break, outshooting Simpson 15-2 the rest of the way.
“Obviously we came out a little flat in the first half,” coach Garry Laidlaw said. “We were second to the ball too many times. And I thought Simpson played with good energy. But we came out and played a solid second half.”
Heithoff returned after missing time due to injury.
“It was good to have Ben Heithoff back,” Laidlaw said. “He made a great run to create our goal and Nick (DeLucia) tucked it away nicely.”
Goalkeeper Greg Foote (senior, Maple Grove, Minn.) posted his third shutout of the year, making three saves.
“Although he didn’t have to work too hard much of the day, Greg was very good when he needed to be good,” Laidlaw said. “It was nice to see him get a clean sheet.”
Laidlaw said Central’s second-half offense was effective, even though it didn’t produce a goal until late in the contest.
“We were creating many more opportunities,” he said. “I felt like it was a matter of time until we scored. We weren’t particularly sharp hitting our target, but Nick made the one that we needed.”
The Dutch must gear up for defending league champion Loras College, ranked 13th in the NCAA Division III, which visits Wednesday for a men’s-women’s doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex field. Loras returns the bulk of its squad from last season when the Duhawks reached the Division III final four. They’re 12-2-1 overall and 5-0 in the league after thumping Coe 5-0 at Dubuque Saturday. Loras leads the all-time series with Central 15-4-2 and defeated the Dutch at Dubuque last year 3-1.