The Ankeny boys’ soccer team proved on Friday that its No. 3 ranking in the initial Class 4A rankings is well deserved.
The Hawks traveled to unbeaten Dowling Catholic for a CIML Conference game and battled the No. 2 Maroons to the wire before dropping a 1-0 decision.
“Overall, it was a tough loss, but there were tons of positives to take from this performance,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio.
Dowling scored the game’s only goal in the first half. Jonathan Mendez found the net off an assist from Raymond Molina for his team-leading 10th goal of the season, which is tied for sixth in Class 4A.
Goalkeeper Hudson Porter made five saves for the Maroons, who posted their sixth shutout. They have allowed only four goals all season.
Ankeny finished with seven shots, four of them by Landon Benge. Jackson Dockendorff had four saves for the Hawks.
“Overall, it was a quality performance,” Fuccio said. “We were a bit wasteful in the attacking third and would have preferred to see us on the ball a bit more, but we played well. Dowling is a quality team in possession and other than its goal, they weren’t able to create much in open play. I have to give our boys a lot of credit.”
The Maroons improved to 4-0 in the conference and 9-0 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 2-2 and 7-4.
The Hawks will host a conference game against No. 5 Waukee Northwest on Tuesday. The Wolves are 3-1 in the league and 6-2 overall.