Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Khalid Ismail gets the ball past the diving Waseca goalkeeper to score a goal during their game on Saturday. Marshall defeated Waseca 6-2.

MARSHALL — The Marshall boys soccer team wanted to bring the energy in its season opener against Waseca. Marshall did just that, taking a slim lead into halftime before a four-goal second half propelled them to a 6-2 victory on Saturday at Mattke Field.

“This was a good game to start the season,” Marshall coach Roberto Esparza said. “We’ve got a lot of new kids but they did a pretty good job and I liked the way we played. Hopefully we can continue it throughout the season.”

Marshall brought the aggressiveness on offense to start, including getting a shot that went off the post in the game’s opening minutes. MHS continued to find plenty of scoring chances over the next few minutes and was able to capitalize in the 12th minute when Lucas Kayser curved a shot around a wall of Waseca defenders and off the post into the back of the net for a goal. Marshall wasn’t done there, as Khalid Ismail got one past the Bluejays goalkeeper 30 seconds later to push their lead to 2-0.

Waseca wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, and got a few scoring chances of its own before capitalizing on a corner kick with four minutes left in the first half to make it 2-1 going into the break.

Looking to continue its first-half momentum, Marshall got a strong opportunity when Isaac Correa earned a penalty kick and found the back of the net a few minutes into the second half. MHS kept up its offensive attack, as Ismail and Elijah Bader got shots past the goalkeeper with 26 and 20 minutes left, respectively, before another goal by Marshall pushed its advantage to 6-1. Waseca then scored with 50 seconds remaining to bring it to the 6-2 final.

Up next

Marshall (1-0) will face Mankato Loyola on the road on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.