There was nothing for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer players to hang their heads about.
The eighth-ranked Jaguars ended their season on Tuesday with a 3-2 loss to No. 1 Waukee Northwest in a shootout in the Class 3A quarterfinals of the state tournament at Cownie Park.
“I’m not going to fault the players,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen, whose team finished with a 13-7 record. “They expended everything they could out there. It ended up being a high-quality soccer match for long durations. Just two teams throwing punches at each other. I’m absolutely proud of our girls and the effort they put forth and left on the field.”
Northwest (16-2) advanced to the semifinals by outlasting the Jaguars in the shootout, 5-4. The Wolves converted all five of their kicks, including the last one by Izzy Simonini that deflected off the left post and into the net.
Centennial made its first four kicks before its final attempt just missed, deflecting off the right post.
“We couldn’t seem to get going in overtime in the way that we were for the second half of the game, but I was pretty confident going into PKs given what we’ve done before,” Allen said. “It was just a couple of inches. The wind blows slightly more on that (last) shot, and Evie (Boyle)’s a hero. Unfortunately, she feels miserable. I hope she doesn’t put all that on her. It’s going to be hard to talk her out of that–she’s a competitor, and she wanted to go out there and win it for the team. Hopefully, she can be proud of everything else that she did during the game rather than the 3 inches that stopped (her shot).
“I don’t fault her, and I know none of her teammates do,” Allen added.
Northwest has been the dominant team in Class 3A all season. Its only loss to an Iowa opponent came on April 23, when it dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 3 Ankeny.
The Wolves had posted a 4-2 triumph at Centennial on May 10, and they got off to a good start in Tuesday’s rematch. Josie Vande Krol put her team ahead with a goal at the 11:57 mark, assisted by Romey Croatt.
The Jaguars then took the lead with a pair of goals in a 30-second span midway through the second half. Maddison Balashaitis scored the equalizer at the 58:49 mark on a header off a corner kick by Avery Lewis.
Then, almost immediately after play restarted, Ava Martin scored on a breakaway for her team-leading 14th goal of the season. She was assisted by McKenna Hilton.
“To go down a goal and to battle back, and then to immediately get that other goal, that felt so good,” Allen said. “It just showed the quality of these kids. Northwest is pegged as the favorite (to win the tournament), and they didn’t back down from them. When we played our game and found our short connections, I think we were impressive for large portions of the game. It’s just a matter of staying in that and doing that in the hard moments.”
For awhile, it appeared that Centennial would knock off Northwest in the quarterfinals for the second time in three years. In 2022, the Jaguars posted a 2-1 victory and went on to capture the crown, defeating a trio of higher-ranked opponents.
This time, though, the Wolves had an answer. Vande Krol scored again with about 8 minutes left to force overtime.
It was her ninth goal of the season.
“Northwest brought it when they needed to,” Allen said. “They found that early goal, and then they found that late goal.”
The Wolves will play No. 5 Valley (16-3) on Thursday at 3 p.m. They posted a 1-0 win at Valley on April 9.
A day off between games could be beneficial for the Northwest players, who were pushed to the limit by the Jaguars.
“That second half was incredible,” Allen said. “We took the No. 1 team to the line.”
