An early goal from former Ankeny Centennial star Courtney Kovacs wasn’t enough to lift the Minnesota State women’s soccer team to its first NCAA Division II national championship on Sunday.
Cal Poly Pomona responded with a pair of goals to post a 2-1 victory at Sportsplex in Matthews, N.C. The loss ended a 23-game unbeaten streak for the Mavericks, who finished the greatest season in school history at 18-2-7 overall after winning regular season and postseason conference championships.
“I’m so unbelievably proud of everything this team has accomplished through the season,” said Kovacs, a junior defender who played 73 of the 90 minutes in the game. “This team has been a second family, and we all have so much love for each other. It was an upsetting game that unfortunately didn’t go our way, but we played our hearts out and left everything out there.”
CPP earned its first national title. The Broncos closed the year with a 22-1-2 record.
After a pair of CPP shots on goal in the opening minutes, Kovacs struck for her second goal of the season to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead at the 8:38 mark.
CPP goalkeeper Bella Hara punched out a corner cross from former Dallas Center-Grimes player Avery Korsching at the near post. Kovacs measured the bounce and floated a right-footed kick to her right, over traffic to give MSU the lead.
“It was a corner, and I saw the spot I was going to run to was already packed with girls from both teams so I decided to go for the rebound and was able to put it away,” Kovacs said. “After I saw it went in, I was kind of in shock because I don’t get the opportunity to score all that often.
“It felt amazing to help us take the lead early in the first half,” she added.
Tara Oper evened the score for the Broncos at 22:20. Oper’s pass toward a pair of players in front of MSU goalkeeper Clare Longueville missed both and rolled into the bottom right corner of the goal.
CPP led 5-1 in shots on goal at halftime with a 13-1 edge in shots attempted. It didn’t take the Broncos long to score the go-ahead goal in the second half.
Former Ames player Lucy Weninger’s contact with Marisa Salazar at the top of the box was called a foul at 46:05. Salazar pushed it past Longueville’s outstretched arms to the left corner on the ensuing penalty kick to make it 2-1.
The Mavericks fought back. Maddix Archer hit the bend of the goal frame 5 minutes later, but the ball stayed out. Then Korsching launched a shot from a distance, but it clipped the top of the bar and sailed over.
Ex-Urbandale player Kelsey Heller earned a corner for the Mavericks with under 10 minutes left in regulation, but CPP’s Bella Anderson knocked it away at the near post. Archer mounted a final low shot on goal with under 2 minutes to play, but Hara hugged the save on the second bounce.
CPP outshot the Mavericks, 7-4, in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Both of Kovacs’ shots were on goal.
Centennial coach Chris Allen watched MSU’s postseason run from afar and was proud of his former player.
“Courtney proved how strong-willed and tough she is as a player in this run,” Allen said. “To make it so far in the tournament was unprecedented for Minnesota State, but with players like Courtney in the program, anything is possible.”
Former Ankeny players Eden Gibson and Kennedy Macke are also members of the Mavericks’ squad along with ex-Valley players Elan Litt and Anna Van Wyngarden.
“It was very cool to see the number of former CIML players make big contributions to the run,” Allen said.