Freshman Ayrissa Robinson recorded a hat trick to lead the top-ranked Waukee Northwest girls’ soccer team to a 4-2 victory at No. 7 Ankeny Centennial on Friday, allowing the Wolves to earn a share of the CIML Conference title when No. 2 Ankeny lost at No. 4 Valley in a shootout.
Northwest scored twice off corner kicks in the second half to break a 2-2 tie. Izzy Simonini scored the other goal and also had an assist for the Wolves, who finished 7-1 in the league and improved to 12-2 overall.
The Jaguars’ records dropped to 4-3 and 10-5.
“We had some really positive moments, but it’s a game that showed consistency will be a key for us,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “We have no qualms about trying to be a possession-based team, and at times, we strung together some incredible passing sequences. However, we didn’t always stick with this, and in fact, our pass attempts were way down from our average during this game.”
Northwest jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the game before Centennial rallied. Mady Postma got the Jaguars on the board with a goal in the 38th minute, providing some much-needed momentum before the halftime break.
“When we committed to it, our press in the attacking third was phenomenal,” Allen said. “Mady earned her goal as the team forced a Northwest mistake high up the field, and this gave us some hope going into the second half.”
Centennial’s Emmarie Becker then scored an equalizer just 1 minute into the second half.
“It was definitely a rough start for our team,” said Centennial senior Avery Lewis, whose corner kick eventually led to Becker’s goal. “But after getting down two I’m really proud of us battling back for 2-2. I’d say all around it was a really physical game both ways. There is definitely a lot to learn from this game, but there were moments to be really proud of.”
Northwest scored the go-ahead goal in the 45th minute. The Wolves later added an insurance goal with 13 minutes left.
Goalkeeper Victoria Spahn had seven saves for Northwest, whose only loss to an Iowa opponent came to Ankeny on April 23.
“We were able to generate corners and shots, but we also gave up corners and shots,” Allen said. “We had five corners to Northwest’s nine, and they were able to score on two in the second half while we scored on one. I think both teams had 11 shots. So it’s not like we were ever out of the game.”
Allen said his team experimented with a new formation for more than half the game.
“After a rough 15 minutes, I thought it started to look pretty good,” he said. “We scored both goals while in it. That was a tough ask for our girls to adapt that formation against the No. 1 team after only one training session, but I saw good moments while we were in it.”
Centennial will travel to Valley on Monday for its conference finale. The Tigers are 5-2 in the league and 13-2 overall.
