The road to the state tournament won’t be an easy one for the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer teams.
Both the Hawkettes and Jaguars earned No. 1 seeds for regional play from the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, but will likely have to beat familiar opponents from the CIML Conference in order to qualify for state.
Second-ranked Ankeny (11-3) is the top seed in Class 3A Region 2. The Hawkettes will host Ames (8-6) or Sioux City East (4-8) in a regional semifinal on May 21 at 7 p.m.
The Hawkettes have already played Ames. They posted a 4-0 win over the Little Cyclones on March 30.
No. 14 Dowling Catholic (6-6) will host Marshalltown (10-5) in the other regional semifinal. The Maroons got off to an 0-5 start that included a 5-0 loss at Ankeny on April 19, but then reeled off six straight wins before dropping a 3-0 decision to No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Tuesday.
The Hawkettes met Dowling in last year’s Class 3A state tournament, where the Maroons posted a 1-0 victory in the quarterfinals.
No. 7 Centennial (10-4) is the top seed in Region 7. The Jaguars will host Cedar Rapids Jefferson (4-9) or Waterloo West (2-13) in a regional semifinal on May 21 at 7 p.m.
No. 10 Southeast Polk (9-5) will host Indianola (6-9) in the other regional semifinal. The Rams are coming off a hard-fought 2-1 loss at Centennial on Tuesday.
The regional finals will be played on May 23 with the highest remaining ranked team from the final IGHSAU rankings hosting the game.