Iron Mountain’s Jurgen Kleiman, center, scores a goal against Marquette defenders Hunter Sides, left, and Nicolaas Vermaat, right, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, at Commemorative Field in Kingsford, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

KINGSFORD — Iron Mountain checked Marquette’s speed and edged the Redmen 2-1 in boys soccer Wednesday at Commemorative Field.

Adrian Vicenzi’s first varsity goal, a header with 27 minutes left in the second half, was the difference.

“We knew that they have a lot of speed and Raffy (Millado) plays up the left side,” said Mountaineers coach Dave Brule, noting his son David had the task of slowing Millado. “We countered with putting David on him to try to neutralize him. He’s got plenty of speed to get behind our defense.

“We held our defense back and didn’t try to get cute with off-side traps because we knew they had enough speed that they could get in and score goals.”

Marquette, which blanked Iron Mountain 3-0 late last month, suffered its second loss of the season.

“Iron Mountain just took it to us,” said Redmen coach Dan Menze. “They came out and wanted to win way more than we did. They obviously had a plan and executed it very well. They defended as a team very well.”

Iron Mountain (3-5) got on the board first when senior Jurgen Kleiman found the net 17 minutes into the first half.

“Jurgen had the one great shot (for the goal) and had another great chance,’ said Brule, referring to a blast that Marquette goalie Kyle Michelson stopped by diving to his right. “Jurgen also had a great cross that set up Adrian for his goal.”

Marquette’s goal came on a first-half free kick delivered by Drew Wyble, a left-footed bullet that slipped past IM goalkeeper Caleb Bryant.

“It was four or five guys really going hard out there, another four or five that were standing around watching the play,” Menze said. “It takes 11 guys on a team to win a soccer game. You have to have all guys on the same page, and they (IM) were on the same page and we were not.”

The Mountaineers went into a five-man defensive shell after the first goal. The 2-1 second-half advantage saw nearly the entire IM lineup in front of the goal.

“They did a very good job defending their goal tonight,” Menze said. “We had one or two other opportunities but other than that they pretty much shut our offense down.

“We end up playing quite a few teams that do that to us (defensively) but we should have been able to figure that out. The connection play was not there tonight, not enough guys were moving on the field.”

The Mountaineers, who defeated Marinette on Tuesday, showed more than enough energy Wednesday.

“We don’t have the depth that they do but we’ve been working hard on fitness,” Brule said. “The kids were fresh and we’ve been working a lot on fitness for the past five weeks.”

Iron Mountain had seven shots on goal and Marquette had eight. Liam Jeevar was the second-half goalkeeper for the Redmen.

“The kids played really, really well,” Brule said. “We had some great passing. Tyler Bengtson and Ryan Hakamaki played their hearts out. Our back four seniors — Jaden Vicenzi, Eamonn Weed, Joe Bogaudo, Myles Cary — were rock solid. We saw a great effort from freshmen Kurt Adiao-Ryan and David Juul, and sophomore Gabe Celello. Michael Colavecchi had a great stint of time. He was running hard and playing the ball well.”

A down side was the Mountaineers’ Owen Caudell suffering a wrist injury that took the senior off the field. He assisted on Kleiman’s goal.

“Owen was playing with tremendous effort,” Brule said. “He had his heart and soul on the field.”

Brule celebrated his 50th birthday Wednesday.

“This was truly a special birthday present from the kids,” Brule said.

Iron Mountain and rival Kingsford will meet Monday at Commemorative Field. Marquette heads to West Branch Ogemaw Heights on Friday and Cadillac on Saturday.

The Redmen would like to see the Mountaineers in the UP Tournament on Oct. 13, in Marquette.

“Hats off to them,” Menze said. “They played an awesome game.

“We’ll bounce back from it and, hopefully, we’ll see these guys in the UP tournament. We’ll be excited to play them again.”

Marquette 1 0 — 1

Iron Mountain 1 1 — 2

First Half

IM — Jurgen Kleiman (Owen Caudell)

M — Drew Wyble

Second Half

IM — Adrian Vicenzi (Kleiman)