Avery Lewis racked up three assists and the Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team ended a rare two-game losing skid with a 7-0 victory at Iowa City West in a non-conference game on Monday.
Addison Fair and Olivia Kroska each had a pair of goals for the third-ranked Jaguars, who also got a goal and two assists from Alanna Pennington.
“We worked on connecting our passes, and we were more successful,” said Pennington. “One of our goals was working on trusting each other, and we improved on it today.”
Centennial raised its overall record to 5-2 while snapping Iowa City West’s two-game winning streak. The Trojans dropped to 2-3.
“It was a tough week last week and then to start this week with a nice win, it was a good night for us,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “We did a good job of mixing it up. Just all in all, it was a really good team effort.”
The Jaguars were coming off back-to-back losses to No. 2 Dowling Catholic on Tuesday and No. 4 Valley on Friday. Senior midfielder Averi Porter sprained a knee during the game against the Maroons, then senior forward Cady Compton left the game against Valley with a knee injury of her own.
Without two of his top players, Allen was forced to make some lineup changes.
“We actually changed up our formation,” he said. “We took the field with some different players in some different positions. We really felt like we needed to work on our communication, and although it wasn’t perfect, I think the girls really stepped up with a lot more on-field communication.”
Centennial jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as Pennington scored off a corner kick by Lewis in the 5th minute, then later passed the ball to Fair for another goal.
“Alanna’s flick led me to the goal, and I placed it bottom left corner,” said Fair.
Fair, a sophomore, then found the net again to make it 3-0. It was her fourth goal of the season.
“The back-to-back goals brought excitement to the team after a slower start,” Fair said.
Kroska scored the first of her two goals off an assist by Lewis to give the Jaguars a 4-0 lead at halftime. She then scored again early in the second half off an assist by Pennington.
Centennial later increased its margin to 6-0 when Gabby Lawrence scored off an assist by Ava Martin in the 50th minute. Emmarie Becker got the final goal on a header off a corner kick by Lewis at the 76-minute mark.
The Jaguars posted their fifth shutout of the season. Goalkeeper Kate Bergan made five saves in the win.
“Iowa City West had a few crosses,” Allen said. “There were no extremely dangerous shots on goal, but they did have some chances.”
Centennial will now have a week off before traveling to Johnston on April 25 for a CIML Conference game. The Dragons handed Dowling its first loss on Monday.
“This will give us a chance to work on some things without the pressure of playing a game, and we can see how some of our kids who are dealing with bumps and bruises are doing,” Allen said.