March 28, 2024

PCM boys shut out by Gilbert

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MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe boys’ soccer coach Darrin Telfer was openly upset after the Mustangs’ 4-0 home loss to Gilbert on Tuesday night..

Not because Gilbert didn’t play better. Not because the officials cost the Mustangs the match. Telfer was upset at a few calls though, and the final call of the match ended up hurting the team beyond the loss.

Gilbert scored a pair of goals in each half to stay unbeaten on the season, but PCM senior Leevi Telfer will not be able to play in the Mustangs’ home game against Nevada on Thursday after receiving a red card immediately following the final horn.

“It will hurt us quite a bit not having Leevi for our next game. It’s frustrating,” Coach Telfer said. “It’s a judgment call, which is the hardest part of officiating. The timing was horrible in my opinion.”

Telfer missed the first half of Tuesday’s match because he was throwing the shot put for the Mustangs’ track and field team over in Pella. The Mustangs will have to play a full match without him the next time they take to the pitch.

Gilbert (3-0) controlled the match from the opening seconds. The Tigers out-shot PCM 15-1 in the first half and held a 7-1 shots on goal advantage.

PCM made a few improvements in the second half, but Gilbert still held a 22-3 shots advantage in the match. Gilbert held a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks.

“It was an energy thing. I don’t want to make excuses for the kids, but we’ve had a tough schedule to start the season,” Coach Telfer said. “We had an emotional win last night. That was fun, but they didn’t look like they came ready to play tonight.

“Gilbert is a good team. It would have been a challenge to beat them even if we had played at our best. We just didn’t bring the energy that we needed to win, and we didn’t execute very well.”

The only thing PCM had more than Gilbert were yellow and red cards.

In what turned out to be a very physical contest, the Mustangs were whistled for nearly as many cards (4) as fouls (6). Gilbert was called for five fouls but was not given any cards.

“My guys did lose their composure some, there’s no doubt,” Coach Telfer said.

“I do think the game could have been officiated better in the final few minutes to help things. There was a lot of stuff that wasn’t called late in the game that probably led to the red card.”

The Tigers got on the board in the first five minutes when Andrew Thatcher put Gilbert’s first shot on goal past PCM goalie Zac Van Waardhuizen. Brandon Bloebaum made it 2-0 when he scored a goal midway through the first half.

The visitors improved their lead in the first six minutes in the second half.

Jason Taylor made it 3-0 and then Matthew Gannon scored directly off a corner kick to complete the scoring.

PCM fell to 1-6 on the season. The Mustangs have now been shut out five times. They have been outscored 33-2 in the first seven games.

“They reacted well to our offense, and we didn’t put a lot of passes together and didn’t move the ball around like we needed to,” Coach Telfer said. “The kids got frustrated early and it hurt us in our individual play.”

The Mustangs host Nevada at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Monroe.