After beating Waukee Northwest in overtime on Tuesday, the Ankeny boys’ soccer team didn’t want to share the CIML Iowa Conference title with the Wolves.
The second-ranked Hawks made sure that wouldn’t happen with a 3-1 victory on Friday at No. 15 Ames. The win clinched the outright league crown.
“It was good to get the result from a well-organized and hard-nosed Ames team,” said Ankeny coach Marcus Varnum, whose squad finished 6-0 in the conference. “Playing on their Senior Night, you know that they are going to come out with energy and emotion, and we did our best to match that and get off to a good start by getting ahead early.”
The Hawks held a 2-1 lead at halftime. Lucas Newhard scored both of Ankeny’s goals, giving him 32 on the season.
Varnum said the Little Cyclones capitalized on a mental lapse by his team to score their lone goal.
“With teams like Ames, who will battle for the entire 80 minutes, you have to keep your guard up and maintain a high level of focus, determination and general play,” Varnum said. “Which I think we did for the majority of the game, but they made something happen when we let our guard down.
“That’s soccer though, and we can learn from it and this will be a great motivating game for us to think about down the road,” he added.
Ankeny, which moved up to No. 1 in the latest rankings over the weekend, then got an insurance goal from Avry Olson in the second half. The Hawks improved to 16-1 overall.
Ames’ records dropped to 3-3 and 7-5.
“Overall, we’re glad to get the result, and for us to move onto our Senior Night this Tuesday, we’re hoping to continue to ride the momentum into postseason play,” Varnum said.
The Hawks will host Des Moines Hoover (15-3) in a non-conference game on Tuesday to close out the regular season.