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Dodgers can’t get past No. 13 Roughriders

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Cole Savery of Fort Dodge deflects during the first half against Roosevelt on Friday inside Dodgers Stadium

The Fort Dodge boys soccer team stood toe-to-toe with their third ranked opponent of the season here Friday night.

While the Dodgers were unable to pull the upset vs. No. 13 (Class 3A) Des Moines Roosevelt, assistant head coach Danny Zach saw plenty of positives to take from the 4-0 defeat.

“We were fighting and held our own with them,” said Zach, who stepped in for head coach Joe Jackson. “Coach Jackson wanted to ingrain in the boys this week to be competitive and physical in the one-on-one battles, and for the most part, we did that.

“Now, we just need to work on putting it all together.”

Sophomore Arvin Garcia had the first two goals of the game for the Roughriders (2-2 overall), with classmate Abel Fanuel and senior Sam Holmes adding the final two in the second half.

Garcia’s initial goal came less than a minute into the action off a wild scramble, with the second getting past FDSH keeper Adam Pearson from 30 yards out.

Holmes knocked in the final goal off a penalty kick for Roosevelt, who has suffered losses to top-ranked (3A) West Des Moines Valley (3-0) and No. 10 (3A) Waukee (3-2) this year around a 3-2 win vs. Mason City.

“It wasn’t like we were getting pounded with shots, Roosevelt just had great finishes,” Zach said. “There really wasn’t anything we could do about a couple of those goals.”

The Roughriders had a dozen shots on goal to just two by Fort Dodge, who had a scoring opportunity in the second half down 2-0 as Jonathon Madden’s header just missed off a cross from Edson Gaytan.

Pearson, a ninth-grader, finished with five saves on the night, giving him 34 for the season.

“I thought the first half went the way we wanted it to,” Zach said. “We just needed to create more pressure. We weren’t trying to hold possession (early), but I thought we settled in well in the second half.”

Zach pointed out the play of senior Cole Savery, who was moved to a new position for the game.

“We’ve asked Cole to take on a lot of different jobs, but he’s always stepped up no matter where we have put him,” Zach said. “(Friday) he was a midfielder, but did a nice job of creating offense for us.”

Roosevelt, which has made 11 state appearances all-time including a berth each of the past two seasons, earned a 5-1 victory over Fort Dodge last year. The Roughriders won the junior varsity contest, 2-0.

The Dodgers return to action on Monday, hosting Marshalltown at 7:30 p.m.

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