The Class 3A state tournament could become a revenge tour for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars avenged one of their three losses with a 2-1 victory over No. 4 Waukee Northwest in a Class 3A quarterfinal on Tuesday at Cownie Park. The Wolves had posted a 1-0 win over Centennial on May 13.
“We were really motivated, and we were confident,” said Centennial freshman Ava Martin, who scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second half. “I hope we can do well against Valley and advance again.”
The Jaguars (17-3) will meet No. 1 Valley (19-0) in the semifinals on Thursday at 3 p.m. on Field 9. The defending state champion Tigers defeated Centennial earlier this season, 1-0, and also posted a 2-1 triumph over the Jaguars in last year’s semifinals.
“We got the fire under our butts,” said Centennial sophomore McKenna Hilton, who scored the game’s first goal on Tuesday. “I guarantee we’re going to put up quite a fight.”
With a win over Valley, Centennial might get a chance to avenge its only other loss in Saturday’s championship game. No. 2 Council Bluffs Lincoln (16-3), which posted a 2-1 overtime victory against the Jaguars on April 1, will play No. 3 Ankeny (18-1) in the other semifinal.
“It feels really good to get a win against a (Northwest) team that we weren’t able to beat earlier this season,” said Centennial goalkeeper Kate Bergan. “And getting revenge on Valley is definitely something that would really be exciting. We’ll see them on Thursday.”
The Jaguars overcame some adversity to end Northwest’s inaugural season with a 16-3 record. Centennial coach Chris Allen was forced to make some lineup changes after Monday’s practice left a couple of his players injured.
“Our philosophy is the next kid in, and Avery Lewis put in a shift that she hasn’t put in for awhile,” Allen said. “And McKenna put in her shift too, and she gets a goal.”
The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead about 5 minutes into the game when Hilton headed in a cross by Elle Street. It was her fifth goal of the season.
“It was a perfect ball,” Hilton said. “I honestly didn’t have to do that much. It was perfect placement, and I just happened to be there. I wouldn’t say it’s luck necessarily–we all work and we put in the work during practice. But that run was just amazing.”
The Wolves tied the game in the 31st minute after Centennial’s Courtney Kovacs was called for a foul in the box. Macy Davis converted the penalty kick, scoring on the rebound after Bergan deflected her initial shot.
“It was really unfortunate,” Bergan said. “PKs are super tough, especially off a deflection. There’s just not much you can do.”
In the 58th minute, Martin found herself in the right place at the right time. She scored off a rebound for the winning goal, her ninth of the season.
“Alanna (Pennington) had the ball in the box, and I think it deflected off the keeper or one of the defenders,” Martin said. “It came right to me, and I just hit it into the net with my left foot.”
Allen said his team made one strategic change following the earlier loss to Northwest.
“It was just the idea of trusting the runs on the outside,” he said. “We were going to put the ball in that space and trust our players to be there. That was the biggest change.”
The Jaguars nearly scored a few other times. Izzy Sash twice hit the crossbar.
“I got a little frustrated, but you’ve just got to keep going,” Sash said.
Sash later left the game after taking a hard fall. She suffered a broken toe during her team’s win over Ankeny on May 3 and sat out for two weeks before returning to action.
“It bothers me sometimes, but I have to play through it,” she said. “I’ll be ready to go on Thursday.”
Valley advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win over Muscatine. The Tigers are riding a 37-game winning streak.
“We’ve trained all season for this,” Bergan said. “We’ll spend a lot of time in the film room prepping for this game. I have confidence in every single one of my teammates.”