The Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team tuned up for Thursday’s showdown against Ames with an 8-0 victory over visiting Mason City on Tuesday.
Seven different players scored goals for the fourth-ranked Jaguars, who improved to 11-3 on the season. The Mohawks’ record dropped to 9-5.
“Our first goal came in the first half on an incredible off-balance cross from Jaecee Hall that found Gillian Nithang’s run, and Gillian managed to volley the ball into the net,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “We then closed the first half with another goal, but had difficulty breaking through Mason City’s defensive cluster.”
With a 2-0 lead, Allen made some adjustments at halftime that proved to be effective.
“We scrapped various playing objectives as we wanted the girls to have more creativity in problem-solving Mason City’s low block, or packed in defense,” he said. “The girls figured things out and managed to tally another six goals, including a header by Jaecee on a corner kick by (Macy) Epp.”
Hall, Carlie Jensen and Miranda Wood each had a goal and an assist in the win. Other goals were scored by Paige Frette, Grace Meador and Meghan White.
The Jaguars will host No. 14 Ames on Thursday with a chance to capture the outright CIML Central Conference title. An Ames win would forge a four-way tie for the crown between the Little Cyclones, Centennial, No. 5 Ankeny and No. 7 Dowling Catholic.