Dakota County Defeats Marshalltown To Advance

In a showdown of two top 20 nationally ranked programs, Dakota County Technical College came out on top of their visit to Marshalltown Community College. The NJCAA Region 11 Quarterfinal matchup was made because DCTC was seeded seventh (of seven teams) despite their national ranking of 16 (NJCAA poll) and 14 (NSCAA poll) and a record of 14-2-1. The top six seeds all compete in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC).

Marshalltown, seeded second after finishing second in the ICCAC league standings, was ranked 17 and 15 in each respective national poll. In a tournament preview from the ICCAC, it was said, “this will be an uphill battle for the Blue Knights, as the [MCC] Tigers have been dominate this year. The Tigers are No. 19 on the NJCAA poll and are only 1.5 games out of the top seed in the conference.”

The two teams played evenly throughout the first half, each with three shots in a scoreless 45 minutes. Less than two minutes into the second half DCTC made it 1-0 lead on a goal by Sikiru Kareem. It was his team-leading 12th goal of the season for Kareem, a sophomore from Chicago.

The teams continued to trade opportunities for the next half hour before MCC got their equalizer in the 79′. With momentum on their side, the home team Tigers looked to get a late winner. The Blue Knights had other ideas as Kareem scored his second of the match in the 85′ of play and DCTC held on to advance in the tourney.

Dakota County will next face Iowa Central CC in a tourney semifinal. Iowa Central, who defeated Scott CC 8-0 to advance, lost their regular season matchup against DCTC 1-0 on August 30. The match is scheduled for noon on Saturday, November 2 in Des Moines. Nationally ranked #1 Iowa Western faces North Iowa Area in the other semifinal.

Stats

Marshalltown: Shots = 10; Corners = 2; Fouls = 23

Dakota County: Shots = 7; Corners = 5; Fouls = 15

NJCAA Region 11 Men’s Soccer Tourney seeding

1. Iowa Western (18-0)
2. Marshalltown (14-3-1)
3. Iowa Central (12-6)
4. North Iowa Area (5-10)
5. Indian Hills (4-13)
6. Scott (3-14)
7. Dakota County (14-2-1)

Soccer info at 4:22 of the video.