Men's soccer takes down IVCC to win season opener, 5-2

Ismael Gomez scored five times Saturday as Joliet Junior College men's soccer secured a 5-2 season-opening victory over Illinois Valley Community College at home.

Gomez scored the first goal of the game just over 16 minutes into action and followed up with another goal nine minutes later. The Wolves (1-0) gave up a goal late in the half to hold a 2-1 advantage into the break. Gomez scored again just four minutes into the second half and added two more later.

"He's our fault warehouse striker, and he's good," said Wolves coach Cris Trillo. "He finishes really well. And I think, you know, he has a good support cast that feeds him good balls and, hey, this is a good, good morale boost for him.

"I think the team knows knows what he's capable of, you know. I mean, we've been now practicing for almost a month and players know, you know, who to feed when, and he's really good at finding this space and finishing, so that's the key."

The Wolves gave up a second goal to the Eagles in the second half, with Trillo stating a lack of intensity allowed IVCC to score.

" I think moments of relaxation, not being intense when you have to be intense, lack of communication, so those things can happen, and I'm glad it happened now, because we have to learn from that," he said.

Trillo added that while there were some good stretches in the game, there's still plenty to work on for JJC. 

Up next, the Wolves travel to Wilbur Wright College on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. match.