OTUMWA — There was nothing stopping him.
Two Ames defenders had tries at midfield. Rather than let the swarming defenders stop him, he punted the ball between the defender's legs, threading the needle and eliminating the threat. Ames' last defender had the best chance to stop him. He ran toward the open ball and tried to win the fight.
Efelson Rodriguez Mendoza had planned for the Ames defender to come. So he turned on the jets and stomped his foot to stop the ball. The Ames defender ran through Rodriguez Mendoza with no way to recover.
The Ottumwa junior kept running and with no other defenders to stop him, he only had the goalie to beat. Ames' goalie ran outside the net and goalie box to stop the attack. Seeing no way out, Rodriguez Mendoza was left with one option. He lofted the ball high and over the head of the Ames goalie.
The ball bounced off the well-worn pitch and into the back of the net. Just 18 minutes into the game, Ottumwa took the lead and gained momentum.
“The players honestly didn't expect us to hit the net,” said Andy Mau, head coach of the Ottumwa boys soccer team. “We've been struggling offensively for a few games, but the first goal really gave us confidence. Once we got the second goal, we really started to show confidence.”
Time barely stopped and the game restarted before the second goal of the night was scored.
Rodriguez Mendoza scored the first goal 23 minutes and 31 seconds into the game. Less than a minute later, the Bulldogs were celebrating their second goal.
This time the ball flew off the feet of junior Jonathan Villatoro and into the back of the goal. He received a pass and almost immediately took a shot from the left of the 18-yard box. Villatoro's shot went straight into the back of the net and Ottumwa quickly gained momentum, taking a 2-0 lead.
Just when the fans stopped cheering for the 2-0 lead, they started cheering again. Rodriguez Mendoza scored his second goal of the first half, flipping a ground ball that flew over the Ames goalie for his third goal less than three minutes later.
“When you lose a lead like that, you're really worried that you're going to lose some momentum, but you're also worried that guys are going to go out there and try to score,” Mau said. “When everyone wants to score, people try to get out of position. And if we start getting out of position, we can get a good team like Ames right back into the game.”
The goals were quiet for the rest of the first half, but Mau wanted his team to refocus for the second half. Because even though he was down by three points, he knew the Little Cyclones weren't going to just roll over.
“I told the players at halftime that we now have to play this game as if it were a 0-0 game,” Mau said. “We're not going to sit back and play like we're in the lead. If we do that, they're going to attack us hard and we're going to concede goals.”
Mau's fears of shoddy play came true. Ames scored early in the second half.
“We started slow in the second half and played poorly,” Mau said. “We let them go too deep in the zone and they scored.”
Just as momentum started to return to Ames, one of the most unusual goals of the year occurred.
Ottumwa went on offense and tried to make the final pass. The pass touched Rodriguez Mendoza's leg. He couldn't take the shot, and the pass deflected off his feet toward the Ames goal. The Little Cyclone goalkeeper, who had abandoned his net to stop the cross attempt, began jogging as the ball rolled past him. I'm sure he'll be able to stop it before it hits the net.
The speed of the ball increased and the goalkeeper's jog turned into a sprint. At the last moment, he tried to flick a loose ball away from the goal, but he fell and the ball rolled into the back of the net for the Bulldogs' fourth and final goal of the game.
“I was worried that Ames' goal in the second half was going to wake them up,” Mau said. “So we went to the captains and reminded them to play harder in the final third of the field where Ames attacks. But the players did what they had to do.”
Ames made one attack after another in the final 20 minutes, but none of them were significant, allowing the Bulldogs to pick up their fourth win of the season. This game was also an important one for the Bulldogs as it showed they can handle adversity. It was the first time an opponent scored from Ottumwa in a Bulldogs victory.
Rodriguez Mendoza's hat trick was also a strong moment for the junior, who was playing with a little effort.
“It's the first time he's coming back from academic ineligibility. He hasn't had any issues so far, so we were disappointed that he had to miss the game,” Mau said. Told. “It's great to have him back in the team. He showed why he can score goals, why he was our second-leading scorer last year. We need him to play. We need him to score goals.”
Monday night's win begins a busy week for the Bulldogs. They play a tough team in Pella on Thursday. Mau hopes to carry the confidence he gained from Monday's win into the rest of the week.
“I loved the intensity of all the players this year, especially tonight,” Mau said. “All the team captains and everyone else really supported what I wanted to do with the team and communicated that philosophy to everyone. When you have a good captain, you can move things really quickly. Masu.”
The Bulldogs are 4-2 this season. No. 8 Ames fell to 5-4.
