The Le Mars Community boys soccer team celebrated a milestone as part of their first win of the season on Thursday night. The Bulldogs defeated Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley 3-0 while Jovany Kabongo netted a pair of goals bringing his career total to an even 50 in a little over three years of Bulldog soccer.
Kabongo has been a focal point of Le Mars’ success for the last three years, but he says his leadership is where he has grown the most as a player. He says playing behind some great leaders early in his career helped show him what it takes to lead a team.
The Bulldog boys soccer program has totaled 104 goals in its short time of existence with Kabongo scoring nearly half of those. He says the milestone is great to achieve in that it shows his siblings what can be done when you put your mind to it.
It was a total family effort to defeat the Nighthawks. Kabongo’s two goals were assisted by his brother Degi, and his other brother Ephraim scored the final goal of the night. That goal was also assisted by Jovany. Kabongo says the chemistry he has with his siblings makes them a dangerous combination on the pitch.
The Bulldogs finish the first week of the year with a 1-1 record and will have a busy three-game week next week. Kabongo says building that chemistry team-wide will be important to build off and potentially better last year’s substate final appearance.
The Bulldogs continue the season at home on Monday night with a conference matchup against Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
