A momentary lapse in defense doomed Marshalltown boys soccer on Friday night.

Des Moines Lincoln slipped in a goal in the final moments of a 2-1 Railsplitters victory over the Bobcats at Leonard Cole Field.

The teams were tied, 1-1, at halftime. A ball booted downfield by the Rails was deflected away by the Bobcat defense, and Brandon Hernandez-Contreras beat Marshalltown keeper Chris Nunez to the loose ball, pocketing a goal with just under three minutes to go.

“I didn’t like it,” MHS head coach Scott Johannes said. “Just had a little break down in the middle, they get behind us, mistakes are made, and that made the difference. … There’s some panic and pressure of trying to get rid of the ball back there sometimes, and we tend to turn it over more that way. We’ve got to keep our composure all 80 minutes.”

Marshalltown falls to 3-2 overall, Des Moines Lincoln remains unbeaten at 4-0.

The Railsplitters’ first goal was meticulously executed, as Abel Molina-Ordaz settled a cross from Luis Perez-Montalvo right at the feet of Diego Astudillo-Delgado, who flicked a left-to-right strike into the goal for a 1-0 lead with just under 23 minutes to go until halftime.

MHS provided a beautiful response nearly 10 minutes later, as Andres Ordaz Zambrano put a corner kick in an awkward position for Lincoln’s keeper, and with Joel Ortiz streaking in behind him, the keeper misplayed it with his hand, knocking it into his own goal and tying the game with 14 minutes to halftime.

“He’s got that phenomenal touch to be able to do that,” Johannes said of Zambrano. “And he really works on that, and practice made perfect tonight.”

While the shots on goal were nearly identical for both teams on Friday, Lincoln appeared to have the momentum as the second half was winding down. Marshalltown was doing enough defensively, though, including some strong saves from Nunez, and it appeared that the game may end in a tie.

“Our guys were locking it down, keeping up with the ball and keeping them from turning,” Johannes said. “I don’t know if I would’ve liked the tie at the moment, but with the loss I’d have rather had the tie.”

Marshalltown takes on another undefeated team, Des Moines Hoover, at Hoover on Tuesday.

“We did a better job tonight of shifting and finding the open guys offensively, but we have to get used to playing against teams that fall back defensively like Lincoln did tonight and like Roosevelt did on Tuesday,” Johannes said. “They shifted things a bit tonight and played not to lose a little bit, and we’ve got to figure out how to get around those guys.”