Don’t be surprised if the Ankeny Centennial and Valley girls’ soccer teams meet again.
The two CIML rivals have collided in the Class 3A state tournament in two of the last four seasons.
Top-ranked Valley escaped with a 1-0 victory on Friday in a non-conference game at No. 4 Centennial. The contest was played amid chilly conditions.
“We definitely had a good effort,” said Centennial junior Averi Porter. “We followed the plan that we were going to do well; it just didn’t go our way. We had one time where they counter-attacked us, and that’s just how it goes.”
The game was scoreless most of the way as the two teams battled on even terms. Centennial had a few scoring chances midway through the second half, but was unable to capitalize.
The Tigers then scored the game’s only goal in the 67th minute. Grace Olson put the ball away on a beautiful cross from Anna Van Wyngarden, who recorded her seventh assist of the season.
“Valley hung in there with us,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “They had some chances; we had some chances either way. I think what we take away is that Valley is No. 1, and we can hang with them. I thought they did really well attacking us at times, and I thought we did really well attacking them at times. We had a couple of good chances we were really close on.”
Valley, the defending state champion, raised its record to 7-0. The Jaguars dropped to 4-2.
The game was a rematch of last year’s Class 3A semifinal, which was won by the Tigers, 2-1. Valley also won a 2017 semifinal against Centennial, 1-0.
“I always look forward to coaching against coach (Rob) Chapman over at Valley and look forward to the nights we get to play each other,” Allen said. “I’m just really proud of the Jaguar effort tonight. Our girls showed up and played hard. They didn’t play afraid–they went after the game. We just didn’t find the goal when we needed to. Ultimately, we defended really well all night, too. We just gave up the one (goal).”
Centennial goalkeeper Kate Bergan made three saves in the loss. Valley had six saves.
“There’s nothing to walk away and hang our heads about this game,” Allen said. “It says that we can hang with anybody, even with the big lineup changes that we’ve had.”
Cady Compton took four of Centennial’s 11 shots, three of them on goal. Two of Alanna Pennington’s three shots were on goal.
“I think we definitely left it all on the field,” Porter said. “We know that we can get them the next time we play them.”
The Jaguars will host a non-conference game against Southeast Polk (0-5) on Monday.
