The Riverland men’s soccer team lost to Anoka-Ramsey 9-0 at Larry Gilbertson Track and Field Wednesday.

The Blue Devils (0-5 overall) never attempted a shot on goal and they trailed 6-0 at the half after Caleb Gaviel drilled a shot with three seconds left in the first frame.

But RCC played better in the second half as they held A-R to three goals.

“We knew it would be tough, Anoka-Ramsey is the powerhouse in our conference,” RCC head coach Soner Dogan said. “But we’re playing better soccer this year. We’re making better passes and we’re running better. I’m happy with our second half performance. We didn’t give up and we wanted to stay in the game. We didn’t worry about the score.”

Esteban Sebastian stopped 11 shots in the second half as he finished with 17 saves for the Blue Devils.

“Sebastian had some fantastic saves and he didn’t give up. That’s what I like about my team is they play their game, no matter what the score is,” Dogan said.

Dogan mentioned that A-R had about 60 players show up for their tryouts, while RCC is limited 19 players on its roster. However, the Blue Devils are doing better in their second year as they lost to A-R 22-0 last season.

“We’re getting better and our roster is growing. Hopefully we’re even better next year,” Dogan said. “We can only look to the future and we can’t look back.”

SCORING

Sixth minute — Emmanuel Brown (A-R)

15th minute — Mohammed Ulel (A-R)

20th minute — Abdul Jabar Jillo (A-R)

35th minute — Patrick Hager (A-R)

39th minute — Ulel (A-R)

45th minute — Caleb Gaviel (A-R)

60th minute — Antoly Tkaen (A-R)

68th minute — Richmond Nah (A-R)

82nd minute — John Sumo (A-R)