Ames capitalized on a defensive lapse by Marshalltown boys soccer for the lone tally in a 1-0 win for the Little Cyclones at Leonard Cole Field on Friday.

Marshalltown falls to 3-4 overall, while Ames remains undefeated at 6-0.

Midway through the first half, a Marshalltown foul resulted in a free kick just outside the right edge of the Bobcats’ 18-yard box.

Evan Moon delivered the boot, and one of Marshalltown’s two defenders set up as a wall against the kick moved away just enough to allow the ball to slip between them, the shot deflecting off the hands of MHS keeper Jonathan Nunez, who made several outstanding saves on Friday but didn’t have the angle to stop this particular strike.

“Those are tough when you’re packed in there,” MHS head coach Scott Johannes said. “We were able to shut down the rest of their runs or push them out, so our defense was really able to stand up today outside of that goal.”

The Bobcats didn’t have the offensive output Johannes would hope for on Friday, however.

Carter Bell had a chance stuffed at point-blank range in the 18-yard box by Ames’ keeper, who gave up a rebound to Luis Monge that resulted in a shot over the Ames net just over five minutes into the game. At the time, it may have seemed like a good omen for Marshalltown’s offensive chances, but it ended up being one of the few shots taken at Ames’ goal all night.

The result was the fourth-consecutive one-goal loss for the Bobcats.

“We got up there, we got it in there, we just needed to take shots,” Johannes said. “It’s about shots on goal, we’ve got to get that intensity in there.

“I hate to say it, but maybe we need a couple guys to be selfish — say ‘this one’s me, I’ll take this,’ because we’ve got a couple guys tonight that looked for that extra pass instead of when they needed to be taking the shot.”

Unofficially, Ames outshot Marshalltown 13-3, including 6-1 on shots on goal and 7-1 on corner kicks.

Ames returns several offensive standouts from last year’s state runner-up team, including this year’s leading goal scorer, Zachary Cuva. The Cyclones flew down the sides of the field again and again on Friday, but weren’t turned away again and again by Nunez and the Bobcat defense.

“They were fast but after playing Hoover and Roosevelt it didn’t feel that fast,” Johannes said. “I think we ended up sucking back too much, we were playing to keep them from scoring again instead of playing our game.”

MHS will need to have a short memory, on the road against Millard West (Nebraska) at an invitational at Valley High School on Saturday afternoon.

“It’ll be a little out of sorts for us, a quick turnaround, but we’re hoping to get back into the win column tomorrow,” Johannes said.