The struggling Dowling Catholic girls’ soccer team is going to win a game one of these days.
Sixth-ranked Ankeny didn’t want to be the Maroons’ first victim.
The host Hawkettes rolled to a 5-0 victory on Friday to avenge last year’s 1-0 loss to Dowling in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament.
“I think it’s been coming–a result like that,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown. “I think all three games this week were very similar. The only difference was against Dowling everything went in (the goal). The ball bounced our way quite a lot, and we were finding the back of the net. We were creating the same number of chances in all three games. The difference was we were scoring goals.”
Ankeny held a 2-0 lead at halftime, then added three more goals in the second half. The Hawkettes posted their second straight shutout after dropping a 1-0 decision at Cedar Falls on Monday.
Goalkeeper Claire Close made two saves before being replaced by Taevah Ganahi for the final 15 minutes.
“They’re honestly not a bad team,” Brown said of the Maroons. “They kept going the whole game. I think our goals were good enough that they would have gone in against most keepers. I think Dowling will find a couple of (wins) here soon.”
Alli Macke had a pair of goals for Ankeny, while Emma Gott added a goal and an assist. They are tied for the team lead with seven goals apiece, which is also tied with Ella Anliker of Valley and Josie Muelhaupt of Waukee for the lead in the CIML Conference.
Anliker had four goals and seven assists for Dowling last season. She then transferred to Valley.
Sophia Kephart and Ava Paoli had the Hawkettes’ other goals. Kephart scored on a corner kick for the first goal of her varsity career.
Camryn Dietz contributed two assists, while Sophie Loeffler and Sydney Van Houweling each added one.
“There are so many close games in the CIML that are decided by one goal or go to a shootout,” Brown said. “If you can find yourself a couple of goals, you’re going to be in pretty good standing. And we were able to do that.”
Ankeny improved to 4-0 in the league and 6-2 overall. The Maroons dropped to 0-5–with all of their losses against CIML opponents.
The Hawkettes will play a conference game on Tuesday at No. 1 Waukee Northwest. The Wolves are 4-0 in the league and 8-0 overall.
Northwest has allowed a total of just one goal in its last six games.
“We’re looking forward to the test against them,” Brown said. “We’re going to see if we can lay a glove on them because they’ve been the No. 1 team thus far.”
