The Ankeny boys’ soccer team won two of three games in the Valley Invitational this weekend, capped off by a 1-0 victory over Ames on Saturday afternoon.
Landon Benge scored the game’s only goal in the first half, his team-leading sixth of the season. He was assisted by Andrew Loder.
“We got an early goal from Landon, and it was another clean sheet for the group,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio. “The overall performance gets us moving in the right direction for a big CIML week.”
The win improved the Hawks’ record to 6-3. Ames dropped to 5-3 after also losing to Dowling Catholic, 1-0, earlier on Saturday.
“I was really proud of the response. I was tough on the group after the first two performances, and with it being our third game in 24 hours, the boys responded incredibly,” Fuccio said. “We outshot them 7-3, and we dominated in possession. Ames is a quality team, and I thought we were in control for the majority of the game.”
On Friday, Ankeny opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Norwalk in a shootout. The Hawks prevailed in penalty kicks by a 7-6 margin.
Ankeny took a 1-0 lead less than 4 minutes into the game when Austin Lundberg found the net. It was his fourth goal of the season.
The Warriors (3-4) eventually tied the game late in the second half. Jace Davis got the equalizer off an assist by Jonah Sandoff.
“We started well against Norwalk,” Fuccio said. “We had a 15-minute spell where we created a ton of good opportunities, and Austin scored an unassisted goal. After the goal our energy levels dropped, and we didn’t get going again. We conceded with less than 5 minutes to go, and then it went to PKs and we ended up winning.”
On Saturday morning, the Hawks battled Millard (Neb.) West to a scoreless draw, forcing another shootout. The Huskies posted a 1-0 victory by winning the penalty kicks, 5-4.
“Millard West was a tough team to break down, and we struggled to get going,” Fuccio said. “We were good defensively only allowing four shots, but it was an uninspired performance and we lost (the shootout). When you go to PKs in back-to-back games, splitting the results is fair and we didn’t deserve more than that.”
Ankeny will travel to Southeast Polk on Tuesday for a CIML Conference game. The Rams are 1-1 in the league and 6-1 overall after dropping a 1-0 decision at Waukee Northwest on Friday.
