Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer coach Brian Duax was hoping that his team’s leading scorer, Rashidi Ishibwami, could get untracked during Friday’s non-conference game at Des Moines East.
Ishibwami had five shots in Tuesday’s overtime loss to top-ranked Ankeny, but was unable to convert any of them.
Three nights later, the junior forward scored the game’s only two goals to lead the fourth-ranked Jaguars to a 2-0 victory.
“As the game was kicking off I was sure hoping that Rashidi would get off the schneid and get (a goal), and he did. He played well,” Duax said. “He was uber frustrated in the first half. We had a game plan, and it wasn’t really working because East was so good at keeping the ball. So I had to pull him out and have a little chat with him and get his head right, and he went back in and was ready to roll.”
Ishibwami scored both of his goals in the second half off assists from Ty Duax and Andrew Heckenlaible. He has now racked up 18 goals on the season, while Duax and Heckenlaible share the team lead in assists with 16.
Still, Centennial left a few other goals on the field.
“That’s kind of been the theme of our year,” Duax said. “We had plenty of chances and only scored two goals.”
Centennial improved to 11-2 with its ninth shutout of the season. The Scarlets’ record dropped to 8-6.
The Jaguars shut down East forward Freddy Muniz-Garcia, who entered the game with 17 goals.
“Freddy plays on the same club team with (Ankeny’s) Lucas Newhard, and they are very similar players,” Duax said. “We moved Beau (Brazeau) to the back and put Evan (Larson) back in the midfield. We changed things up a little bit and kept another clean sheet. (Goalkeeper) Andrew (Nelson) was never really tested.
“East is a really good soccer team in terms of keeping the ball. I don’t think they were ever super dangerous, but they’re a good side. Their two forwards are super crafty and work well together, but I don’t know if Andrew made a big-time save at all. It was a pretty convincing win,” he added.
The Jaguars will host a CIML Iowa Conference game against Ames (7-3) on Tuesday.