Boys' Soccer: Blanked

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor

sports@beeherald.com

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Scoring came early and often for the Boone boys’ soccer team Tuesday, romping past Carroll in a 7-0 shutout at Goeppinger Field. 

The visiting Tigers struggled to stop the powerful Toreador offense from opening kick, as they gave up the game’s first goal just two minutes into the contest. 

Junior Ryan Dow and senior Gabe Shinzato combined for four goals - two each - and Greene County senior goalkeeper, Marcelo Alarcon pitched a shutout as well to help the Toreadors (1-2) pick up their first victory of the year. 

Boone added another goal from Shinzato, just five minutes after the opening goal, a rocket sent into the right side upper 90 for a commanding 2-0 lead.  

The Toreadors entered the contest having lost their first two games by a combined score of 9-1, but the rejuvenated squad was hungry and ready to open action in their home opener. Boone lost back-to-back contests at the Ames Invite Saturday, April 1, falling 6-0 to the Little Cyclones and 3-1 at the hands of Spirit Lake. 

It was a completely different story Tuesday night. 

The Toreadors controlled possession for most of the game, ringing up a 5-0 halftime lead. 

Dow punched in both his goals in the first half, scoring the second of two goals just 30 seconds after Max Hyatt’s scorcher with 2:15 to play in the half. Dow sent his goal scooting past the Carroll goalie just a few moments later to cap off the first half scoring. 

The cohesive offense was a welcome sight for first-year Boone head coach, Connor Doyle. 

“It helped that we played as a team and everyone fulfilled their role,” he said. “We had great ball movement down the field which opened up lanes which led us to score quite a few times.”

The Tiger offense was out of sync along with the defense and could never get the ball rolling in their favor, as they struggled to keep Boone out of their half of the field. 

The Toreadors used their first half scoring jolt to pour it on early in the second as they added their sixth goal just a minute into the frame. Things were quiet for the remainder of the match until Shinzato snuck a shot past the reach of the Carroll keeper with 11:49 remaining for his second score of the night, pushing the lead to 7-0.

The clean sheet came fairly easy for Alarcon, as he was rarely tested and spent a majority of his time well downfield, putting pressure on the Carroll defense. 

Boone continued to attack in the closing minutes and nearly scored an eighth goal, which would have completed Shinzato’s hat trick, but had it wiped out on an offsides call with under two minutes to play. 

The Toreadors stay home tonight to host Winterset. The Huskies were 14-4 a season ago and are led by senior Gavin Nevshemal, who scored 20 goals last year as a junior. Winterset is ranked 12th by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association. 

Boone travels to seventh-ranked ADM Monday, April 10 to take on the Tigers. ADM qualified for state last season, compiling a 17-5 record and returns 17 starters from last year’s squad. The Tigers boasted a stingy defense a year ago, posting a 1.093 goals against average. 

With a tough stretch ahead, Doyle wants his guys assessing what they did well Tuesday. 

“We talked briefly after the game about all the positives and how we need to do those same things moving forward if we want to continue to be successful,” the coach said. “We will work on some of our downfalls in practice to hopefully put together more wins this season.”

Tonight’s kick-off is set for 6:30 following the JV game at Goeppinger Field in Boone.