It wasn’t a fluke.
The sixth-ranked Ankeny girls’ soccer team posted a 2-0 victory at No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Tuesday, handing the Wolves their first loss of the season.
The final score didn’t reflect the Hawkettes’ dominance.
“It was a massive win,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown. “It sounds weird, but the performance was so much better than the result. It easily could have been 3 or 4 to nil at halftime. We hit the crossbar once, and we hit the post. I think we had 10 shots in the first half, and I don’t think Northwest has had 10 shots against them all season.”
The win allowed Ankeny to move into sole possession of first place in the CIML Conference. The Hawkettes are now 5-0 in the league and 7-2 overall, while Northwest’s records dropped to 4-1 and 8-1.
The Wolves had allowed a total of just one goal in their previous six games.
“We were definitely thrilled with the win,” said Ankeny junior Camryn Dietz. “It was a great team effort, and we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s hard work and will to win.”
Dietz and Alli Macke each had a goal for the Hawkettes. Kamryn Scheib contributed an assist.
Ankeny goalkeeper Claire Close finished with six saves. Her Northwest counterpart, Victoria Spahn, racked up 12 saves in the loss.
“Everyone played the best that they could possibly play against the best team,” Brown said. “Northwest is still the No. 1 team, and they’re unbelievable. It’s going to take a performance like that at the right time to beat them. It was incredible.”
Dietz scored the game’s first goal about 5 minutes into the first half. She blasted a shot that caromed off the left post and into the net for her second goal of the season.
“That early goal really set the tone for the game and gave us the confidence to keep pushing forward,” Dietz said. “We’re proud of what we accomplished and grateful for all the support.”
Brown said his players bought into the game plan and executed it perfectly.
“It’s easy to get up for the No. 1 team,” he said. “You know you have to be at your best, and the girls just absolutely backed it up. We wanted to press them. I think what Northwest is good at is if you sit back and defend, they’re going to break you down. And we didn’t do that. We pressed them really high, and that’s how we were able to score early on. Cam couldn’t have hit it any better, and that gave us the momentum.”
Macke added an insurance goal in the second half to produce the final margin. She made a nifty move to beat a Northwest defender, then hit a left-footed shot past a sliding Spahn.
“We just knew we needed to keep fighting,” Macke said. “We had so many chances to get that second goal, and then we got it in the second half.”
The Hawkettes have posted three consecutive shutouts since dropping a 1-0 decision at Cedar Falls on April 15, when they lost despite outshooting the Tigers by a 30-1 margin.
“It was tough to lose to Cedar Falls,” Brown said. “We had a bit of an identity crisis, but losing that game probably took some of the pressure off of us. We just had to get back in the groove, and tonight we had a performance that I probably haven’t seen since I’ve been here–and that’s saying something.”
Ankeny will compete in the Tournament of Champions on Friday and Saturday at Bettendorf.
