The Ankeny girls’ soccer team got the help that it needed on Friday.
While the fourth-ranked Hawkettes closed out their regular season with a 3-0 victory over visiting Ames, No. 5 Waukee Northwest posted a 1-0 win over No. 3 Ankeny Centennial to forge a likely three-way tie for the CIML Iowa Conference championship.
Both Ankeny and Centennial finished 5-1 in the league. Northwest improved to 4-1 and only needs to beat winless Fort Dodge on Monday to earn a share of the crown, too.
“A portion of the conference (title) feels great,” said Ankeny senior Kennedy Macke. “It’s something new for us, but at the end of the day it’s just a step along the way to our bigger goal.”
Ankeny (15-1) struggled to find the net against the Little Cyclones. The game was scoreless until Avery Matthews broke the ice with 9 minutes left, when she scored off a corner kick for her ninth goal of the season.
Emma Gott followed immediately with another goal, her team-high 10th of the year. Macke then scored the Hawkettes’ third goal in a 2-minute span, her fourth of the season, to produce the final margin.
Teja Pritchard had a pair of assists in the win.
“They really packed it in on defense so it took awhile to score,” Macke said. “We had many opportunities in both halves–we just couldn’t find the back of the net. Toward the end we played a little more like ourselves and were able to capitalize.”
Ames dropped to 2-3 in the conference and 4-9 overall. Goalkeeper Preksha Sarda made 10 saves to keep the Little Cyclones in the game.
Ankeny’s defense, meanwhile, was seldom tested. Goalkeeper Jasmine Moser had no saves as the Hawkettes recorded their 15th shutout of the season.
Ankeny will now have 10 days off before hosting Marshalltown or Waterloo Schools in a Class 3A regional semifinal on May 24 at 6 p.m.
