(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Competition is going to start ramping up very quickly, and the Ankeny Hawkettes are right where they want to be.
Ankeny successfully defended its top girls’ soccer ranking in Class 3A with a pair of quality wins and improved to 3-0 on the season during the Crosstown Invitational that the Hawkettes hosted alongside No. 5 Ankeny Centennial.
The Hawkettes started the weekend by notching a top-five victory over Class 2A No. 5 Pella on Friday night before following with a Class 3A top-10 victory in a 1-0 clean sheet against No. 7 Pleasant Valley.
“We spoke to the girls at the start of the week and we wanted to be 3-0 after these couple of games,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown. “We’re happy to come in and take these two (games). We’re just happy to keep a couple clean sheets, score a couple of goals and just get out of this weekend healthy with two good games.”
Star midfielder Alli Macke played a critical role in helping the Hawkettes secure both victories as the senior scored two of their three goals against the Dutch before drawing a penalty kick and netting the game-winner in the second half against the Spartans.
She got the Hawkettes going with a late goal in the first half against the Dutch.
Macke was able to take the ball away from a defender in front of the Pella goal and split her shot between two defenders for her first of the season.
Her second goal of the game came just a few minutes into the second half when junior Sydney Van Houweling played a ball through to her that allowed Macke to blow past a handful of defenders before beating the keeper for a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Isabel Squires and junior Allison Hawkins linked up for Ankeny’s third goal of the game in the 56th minute.
Hawkins played a ball through for Squires that put her in a prime spot to beat the goalkeeper in a 1-on-1 for her second goal of the season.
Against Pleasant Valley, the Hawkettes missed out on two point-blank chances to take the lead before halftime.
Macke played a ball through to Ava Paoli, who had her shot deflect off the keeper’s cleat in front of the goal in the 16th minute. Squires managed to get behind a defender with under 30 seconds left in the half, but Pleasant Valley’s keeper got out just in time to block the shot.
The ultimate difference maker came under a minute into the second half when Macke gained control of the ball, got tripped up inside the box and was awarded a penalty kick. Macke beat the keeper for her team-leading third goal of the season.
“It’s great to have Alli here and she obviously means a lot (to the team),” Brown said. “She’s our captain and she stepped up in a big moment to score the goal and get us the win today. I’m happy that she’s got a couple of goals, she’s definitely a very important part of what we do.”
Ankeny has only surrendered one goal through its first three games, which came off a penalty kick in the 77th minute against Pella.
Outside of that, the Hawkettes’ backline has given very limited opportunities for the opposition.
They didn’t allow a single shot in the season opener against Cedar Falls on Tuesday and only had to make a combined three saves by the senior tandem of Claire Close and Sylvia Barlett during the Crosstown Invitational.
“We’ve been brilliant defensively, but a big part of our identity is not conceding goals,” Brown said. “We need to be a little better in front of the goal. We’re creating a lot of chances, just not putting them away. A lot of the games have been in the other team’s half, for some reason the ball isn’t dropping for us. If it does click, we’ll be in a good spot.”
The Hawkettes are going to look to build off their stout defensive play through the first few games of the season as they prepare for one of their biggest challenges of the season entering CIML play.
Ankeny will host a clash between the top two teams in Class 3A as the Hawkettes face off against No. 2 Valley on Tuesday.
The Tigers picked up a pair of victories during the Crosstown Invitational with a 2-0 win over Pella and a 4-0 win over Linn-Mar (Marion) to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“It’ll be a good game,” Brown said. “We want to be a part of the biggest and best games in the state. Hopefully, we get a lot of eyes on us so we can know what it’s like to have that bit of pressure on us, so we can use that intrinsically for the state games in June if we’re in the mix.”