Alli Macke recorded a hat trick and the Ankeny girls’ soccer team erupted for five goals in the second half to post a 5-0 victory over visiting Iowa City West in a non-conference game on Monday.
The fourth-ranked Hawkettes finished the regular season with a 10-3-1 record.
“We challenged the girls to have more conviction and passion the second half, and solve some on-the-field problems by dribbling instead of passing and mixing up direct play,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown. “They came out and scored four goals in 10 minutes to go up 4-0.”
Camryn Dietz and Ava Paoli each had a goal for Ankeny. Macke added an assist, while Teja Pritchard racked up three assists on her Senior Night.
Goalkeeper Jasmine Moser, another senior, combined with backup Claire Close to post the team’s 13th clean sheet in 14 games.
“My message to the girls was that of how grateful I am to be their coach,” Brown said. “As tough as we are on them, they do everything we ask of them and have for the three years we’ve been together. This group has been through some tough times as they were the Covid-19 freshmen that had their season taken away (in 2020). I know they will bring that toughness with them when they graduate from Ankeny.”
Coming off a 1-0 win over No. 2 Valley on Friday, Ankeny got off to a slow start. The Hawkettes were unable to find the net in the first half.
“We didn’t play our usual game, and we were trying to solve problems by passing alone,” Brown said. “We expended a lot of energy–physically and mentally–versus Valley, and we took the weekend off for some much-needed rest. So Monday was the first time I saw them since Friday’s win, and Monday is usually a re-entry day on our weekly plan–not a game day.
“But credit to Iowa City West–they were working on some defensive shape for substate and were tough to break down. We missed some big chances,” he added.
The Trojans dropped to 5-10 on the season.
Ankeny will host a Class 3A regional semifinal against Ames (9-8) or Fort Dodge (0-8) on Tuesday, May 23.