The Ankeny girls’ soccer team ran out of gas.
It resulted in another shootout loss.
The second-ranked Hawkettes closed out the regular season on Friday with a 2-1 loss at No. 4 Valley. The Tigers’ win, coupled with No. 1 Waukee Northwest’s 4-2 victory at No. 7 Ankeny Centennial, allowed the Wolves to tie Ankeny for the CIML Conference title.
“The girls have had a great season. To go 7-1 in this conference is amazing,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown, whose team dropped to 11-4 overall. “We were so good against a top team for 60 minutes, and we really wanted to win the conference outright. But it wasn’t to be.”
Ankeny took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal from the left side by Alli Macke, her team-leading 13th of the season. She was assisted by Ava Paoli.
“We were very good in the first half,” Brown said. “Cam (Dietz) hit the crossbar on a free kick, and Valley didn’t have a shot the first half. We couldn’t have hoped for any better. The game plan worked really well. Valley possessed the ball at times, but we were definitely the better team the first half.”
The Hawkettes appeared to be in control until midway through the second half, when Valley started to build some momentum. The Tigers eventually scored an equalizer with 13 minutes left.
“We started out the second half really well, but then right around the 60 or 65 minute mark we just died,” Brown said. “We had a bunch of girls–not to point any fingers–go to the track meet in Council Bluffs on Thursday, and they were exhausted. They just hit a wall. We made a mistake, and (Valley) scored.
“We were hanging on for a bit, and then in overtime it was just two tired teams. It was like two boxers throwing punches at each other,” he added.
It took only three kicks from each team in the shootout to determine the winner. Ankeny failed to convert any of its tries, while Valley made all three of its attempts.
The Tigers improved to 5-2 in the conference and 13-2 overall.
“It was a tough way to lose, but it’s been the story of our season,” said Brown, whose team lost in a shootout for the third time. “It’s our Achilles’ heel. It was a bit of a heartbreaker in the end.”
Ankeny will have a week off before hosting Ames (9-6) or Sioux City East (6-9) in a Class 3A regional semifinal on May 21. With a win, the Hawkettes would likely host conference rival Dowling Catholic (6-6) in the regional final on May 23.
“We got a tough draw for being the No. 2 seed,” Brown said. “We need to get healthy and see how our girls come back from the state track meet. But I think we’ve got a team that can compete with the best in the state.”
Brown is hoping that his squad can avoid any more shootouts in the postseason.
“If we go to overtime again, we’re probably going to have to go all out in overtime,” he said. “Put an extra girl up top and leave ourselves a little more vulnerable at the back, because we just can’t seem to get it right in PKs. We’ve tried different rotations, we’ve tried different girls, and we’ve switched goalkeepers. We’ve done everything we can, but for whatever reason the execution just hasn’t been on our side.
“And we’ve had so many PKs that all of our film is out there, and everyone can see where our kids like to go (with their shots),” he added.
