One goal proved to be enough for the Ankeny boys’ soccer team.
Sophomore Brian Jimenez scored on a blast from 30 yards out to give the Hawks a 1-0 victory on Tuesday at Urbandale. It was the first goal of the season for Jimenez, who found the top corner of the net.
That was all the support that freshman goalkeeper Jackson Dockendorff needed. He went on to post the team’s third shutout of the year.
“We really stepped up,” said Ankeny coach Marcus Varnum. “The boys had a great response after our most recent match, and when you see the response that the boys gave versus Urbandale, it makes you proud as a coach.”
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Ankeny, which was coming off back-to-back shutout losses to fourth-ranked Waukee Northwest and No. 10 Ankeny Centennial. The Hawks improved to 2-5 in the CIML Conference and 4-8 overall, while Urbandale’s records fell to 1-6 and 5-9.
“We’ve been testing ourselves and searching to find a way to get more out of each of our players in terms of physicality, grit and passion–and those attributes were obviously there tonight,” Varnum said. “We felt that the momentum and energy was in our favor for the majority of the game, but we couldn’t put our chances away. That’s without taking anything away from Urbandale, because we were definitely under pressure for moments throughout the game, but everyone defended with passion to keep any Urbandale chance out of our net.”
Ankeny will play its conference finale on Thursday at No. 1 Valley (13-2).