During the first half of Saturday’s Class 3A championship game against second-ranked Council Bluffs Lincoln, Ankeny Centennial midfielder Averi Porter struggled to become part of the Jaguars’ offensive attack.
At one point, Centennial coach Chris Allen yelled at Porter from the sideline.
“Averi, we can’t have you be a spectator today!” he said.
A few minutes later, Allen subbed Porter out of the game at Cownie Park. When she arrived at the Jaguars’ bench, he put his hands on her shoulders and gave her some more words of encouragement.
“I was kind of struggling the first 10 minutes to find the ball and get back on track, but (coach Allen) came and talked to me and my teammate Teagan (Hall) came and talked to me and she just really set me on track,” Porter said. “After that, it fired me up and I was ready to go.”
Shortly thereafter, Porter re-entered the game and made an immediate impact. She scored two goals in a span of 2 minutes and the No. 5 Jaguars went on to post a 2-0 victory for their third state championship in the last six seasons.
Allen’s tongue-lashing provided the spark that Porter needed.
“She came off and did what she did,” Allen said. “She said, ‘I guess you just needed to make me mad.’ I don’t want to coach that way, but every player needs something different. I about passed out yelling at her, but she responded really well and had a great game after that. I’m proud of her.”
Porter’s first goal came in the 20th minute. She blasted a shot from about 20 yards out that Lincoln keeper Savanna Vanderwerf deflected into the net.
“I think it was a rebound off somebody,” Porter said. “The ball was just kind of open and I took it and hit it as hard as I can, and it ended up in the back of the goal.”
Before Lincoln even had time to regroup, Porter found the net again. Cady Compton crossed the ball in front of the goal to Ava Martin, who had a clear shot but the ball got past her.
Porter, running in from the left side, was there to clean up the mess. It was her 11th goal of the season.
“The (defender) didn’t follow me and I just hit it with my left foot. It ended up in the back of the goal, too,” Porter said. “It felt really good. I knew with our back line and (goalkeeper) Kate (Bergan) nothing was going to hold us back and we had it from there.”
The Jaguars (19-3) avenged a 2-1 overtime loss to Lincoln on April 1. The Lynx (17-4) were trying to win their first state title.
“That was really early in the season when we lost to them,” said Centennial midfielder Alanna Pennington. “I think we didn’t find our rhythm yet, and we’ve grown as a team so much. I think we were all super confident and just needed to play our game.”
Lincoln star Hanna Schimmer, the Class 3A scoring leader with 44 goals, had a goal and an assist in the first game at Centennial. But she was held without a point on Saturday, due primarily to the efforts of senior defender Elle Street.
“We had to man mark her throughout the game, and we did a great job–Elle specifically,” said Centennial midfielder Courtney Kovacs. “She did amazing.”
Bergan and Hall combined on the shutout, the Jaguars’ 16th of the season. The duo rarely was tested in Saturday’s game.
“This is absolutely amazing,” Bergan said. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Bergan was named to the all-tournament team along with Kovacs, Pennington and Porter. Kovacs was selected captain of the squad.
“We knew we just had to lock it in,” Kovacs said. “We knew they would come out on fire in the second half, but we treated it like a 0-0 game the whole time and we did what we had to do.”
