After earning a No. 3 ranking in Class 4A in the inaugural rankings by the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the Ankeny boys’ soccer team lived up to that lofty status with a 2-1 victory at Southeast Polk on Tuesday.
“I think we were a bit surprised to be as high as we were in the rankings, but it shows how the boys have been playing this spring,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio.
Landon Benge scored the winning goal with about 15 minutes left to play, his team-leading seventh of the season. He was assisted by Cal Wahlberg, who picked up his second assist of the game.
The two teams had battled to a 1-1 tie at the break.
“It was another energy talk on the sideline at halftime,” Fuccio said. “I thought we came out really well in the first 15 (minutes), and then we kind of died off a bit. We just needed to get back to playing with more energy. So we high pressed in the second half, and I think it really paid off for us.”
Ankeny took a 1-0 lead about 4 minutes into the game. Austin Lundberg found the net for his fifth goal of the year.
But the Hawks’ attack then sputtered for the rest of the half, and Southeast Polk eventually got an equalizer. Joel Livingstone scored on a counter attack in the 25th minute off an assist by Jude Skinner.
“That was something we talked about in our preparation for this game, so it was frustrating to give that one up,” Fuccio said of the Rams’ ability to transition from defense to offense. “But they were very clinical on that counter, and it cost us a bit.”
The Hawks improved to 2-1 in the CIML Conference and 7-3 overall. Southeast Polk’s records dropped to 1-2 and 6-2.
Goalkeeper Mazin Arafa made seven saves for the Rams, who have now lost two straight games after getting off to a 6-0 start.
“I was a little worried about our guys’ legs with all the minutes they played over the weekend (at the Valley Invitational),” Fuccio said. “But other than that stretch in the first half, they fought through it. We didn’t respond greatly to them scoring, but I’m happy we were able to bounce back in the second half.”
Ankeny is one of five teams from the CIML ranked among the top seven squads in Class 4A. The top eight teams in the final rankings will receive No. 1 seeds for substate play.
“It’s big to be up there early, but we also talked about how the first rankings don’t mean anything if we don’t take care of business,” Fuccio said.
The Hawks will travel to Dowling Catholic on Friday for a huge conference game against the No. 2 Maroons, who are 3-0 in the league and 8-0 overall. Dowling has allowed only four goals all season.
“We had one of those big games against Johnston (on April 8), and I thought we stepped up to the challenge,” Fuccio said of his team’s 3-1 loss to the No. 1 Dragons. “I’m hoping we can do that again and hopefully pull off the upset.”
