Coming off the must successful season in program history, expectations are high for the Tri-City United Titan boys soccer team and if Thursday night's match against Cannon Falls is any indication, an exciting season is in the works for Titan fans. With last season's leading scorers Angel Ruiz Gomez and Rafael Balcazar combining for eight goals, TCU cruised to a 10-3 dismantling of the Bombers.
The win gives the Titans a 1-0-0 record to open the fall season.
Angel Ruiz Gomez got the scoring started in the fifth minute when he found a sliver of open space in the Cannon Falls box and sank the ball into the lower right corner and just four minutes later, he split the defense of the Bombers up the middle and blasted his second goal of the night past a diving keeper. In the 13th minute of the game, Balcazar broke into open space and shot a ball that was saved initially, but the ball rebounded directly to seventh grader, and younger brother of Angel, Giovanni Gomez who kicked his first career varsity goal into the net.
A minute later, the Bombers responded with their first goal of the night on a breakdown of the defense, but the Titans wasted no time putting together a response. Balcazar took the ball up the field and drew a second defender and made a perfect pass to the foot of Cooper Sutherland who rewarded the pass with a blast into the net that the keeper had no shot at.
In the 26th minute, Angel Ruiz Gomez completed the hat trick when he took the ball off a rebound and sank the no-doubt shot to put TCU up 5-1. Balcazar joined the scoring deluge two minutes later when he got free on the right side and blasted his first goal of the season into the net, pushing the Titan lead to 6-1 which they would take into the half.
The Bombers came out with of the break with a burst of energy and scored twice in the first 11 minutes to cut the lead to 6-3, but Balcazar responded with his second goal after finding some space in the Cannon Falls box. Angel added a fourth goal in the 60th minute of the match when he put together a slick set of moves to outmaneuver the Bomber defense before sinking the shot and less than a minute later, he scored his fifth goal of the night off a rebound.
With 11 minutes remaining in the match, Balcazar joined Angel with a hat trick after sinking his third goal of the night and after making several lineup adjustments, the Titans cruised to the 10-3 victory.
TCU is scheduled to return to the pitch Saturday, Aug. 24, when the team will travel to Plainview-Elgin-Millville H.S. for a nonconference showdown with the Bulldogs. The match is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
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