Photo by Jake McNeill Marshall midfielder Jasiel Flores, left, dribbles around a defender during the first half of a boys soccer game against Hutchinson in Marshall on Saturday afternoon. Marshall won the game 9-0.

MARSHALL — Jasiel Flores logged a goal and two assists in the first 15 minutes of the Marshall boys soccer team’s Saturday afternoon matchup against Hutchinson. The senior midfielder finished the game with four points to propel Marshall to a 7-0 victory in the battle of the Tigers.

“He’s quick, he’s a team player and he’s always looking for a goal,” Marshall head coach Tony Correa said of Flores’ ability to function as a sparkplug for the offense. “He doesn’t care who scores as long as we’re sharing the love with the goals and we’re winning and we’re working on our mistakes.”

In the game’s second minute, Flores took the ball down the right sideline before firing off a shot from in close. The ball was deflected by the Hutchinson goalkeeper but a Marshall dummy over the deflection set up Jared Hernandez with an open look for the go-ahead goal.

Hernandez’s goal was his second of the season after he scored also two minutes into Marshall’s 4-1 home opener loss against Sioux Falls Christian on Friday. While the Tigers weren’t able to turn Hernandez’s early offense into momentum in the opener, they were able to on Saturday. 

“I told these guys to work on their time of possession and just to be comfortable against tough teams,” Correa said, adding that Marshall wanted to thank Hutchinson for making the trip to Marshall for the teams’ first head-to-head matchup. “Any pressure is good pressure and we worked with everyone moving the ball and just not caring about who scores the ball. It’s about a team effort of winning and we just wanted to make up for our mistakes last night because I thought we played well last night too… [but] we ran out of stamina. Today, our stamina was calm because we had time on the ball and we weren’t chasing it.”

Isaiah Argueta recorded four goals on the day. His first came in the 32nd minute after he got the ball down the left sideline, dribbled into the edge of the box, and faked out the goalie by pretending to go inside before shooting to the far side of the goal for a 6-0 Marshall lead. 

Argueta also got another pair of transition goals late in the second half, sending in a pair of rockets into the top shelf in the 54th and 58th minute before adding one last insurance goal in the game’s waning moments.

“[We were] just working on quality plays. We don’t need to just exploit their weaknesses, we need to work on our own weaknesses and the strengths are just going to come from working together,” Correa said. 

In the 13th minute, Flores came up with another assist, this time setting up Sam Foster to make it 2-0. Flores had gotten a series of good looks at the net in the game but he was finally able to get one to go in the 15th minute on a penalty kick, beating the keeper to the bottom left corner of the net for a 3-0 Marshall advantage. 

Roberto Garcia Lopez posted a clean sheet in goal for the Tigers on the day.

Marshall dominated possession of the ball from start to finish. Marshall found themselves in the attacking third early and often, hardly letting the visiting Tigers take possession. When Hutchinson did get its feet on the ball, they weren’t able to keep Marshall on the defensive for long.

Flores also scored the Tigers’ first second-half goal when he received the ball in the box and cut laterally through the defense before sending a shot up against the post for a 7-0 Marshall lead in the 43rd minute.

Moo Gay finished last season as the state of Minnesota’s leading goal-scorer and found his rhythm again on Saturday. His first goal of the year came when Hernandez found Gay down the middle for a 4-0 Marshall lead in the 21st minute.

Just over five minutes later, Gay got a feed from Coby Guenther at the edge of the box and dribbled circles around the defenders before curling a shot into the top right of the net for a 5-0 Tiger lead.

Marshall improves to 1-1 on the season with the victory and will now head out on the road to do battle against Waseca tonight at 7 p.m.

“Today was big for us because we’ve got two big games coming up away [against Waseca and St. Peter], so we have to be ready for the tough teams,” Correa said, adding that he wanted to give credit to Hutchinson for how they played but that he also wants his team to be ready for teams such as Waseca, Worthington and New Ulm for the section playoffs at the end of the year.