After losing one of its best players to an injury 24 hours earlier, the Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team rebounded on Friday with a 1-0 victory at Waukee in a shootout.
The sixth-ranked Jaguars won the shootout, 5-4, to finish 2-3 in the CIML Central Conference and improve to 12-4 overall. No. 11 Waukee’s records dropped to 2-3 and 9-5.
“It’s good for morale,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax. “We had a really tough week with a lot of miles traveled and we faced three good opponents. It’s good to get out of this week 2-1 building toward Fort Dodge on Tuesday and moving toward substate.”
Centennial played without sophomore Cole Vincent, who suffered a broken jaw during Thursday’s practice. Vincent scored seven goals and had five assists in the first 15 games, ranking third on the team with 19 points.
“He’s probably out for the year, but I’m not sure yet,” Duax said.
In Friday’s game, the two teams took turns controlling the action. But neither squad was able to find the back of the net.
“It was a very exciting 0-0 draw,” Duax said. “I thought we were the better side in the first half–we created plenty of chances. I thought they were the more dangerous side in the second half, but we battled and fought and kept it 0-0.”
After two scoreless overtime periods, Waukee’s Trevor Jones opened the shootout with a kick that sailed high over the crossbar. That miss proved to be the difference.
Will Overberg, Nick Ashton, Connor Page and Michael Brandt converted Centennial’s first four penalty kicks. After the Warriors converted their final attempt to tie the score at 4-4, Alex Keninger delivered the game-winner for the Jaguars.
“It felt good to walk out of there with a win,” Duax said.