The Ankeny boys’ soccer team was hoping to prevent Valley coach Aziz Haffar from reaching a milestone on Tuesday night.
And for more than a half, the Hawks did just that.
Ankeny built a 1-0 lead before the Tigers rallied for three goals in the final 40 minutes to post a 3-1 victory at Valley Stadium, giving Haffar his 600th career win.
“We played well for 45 minutes,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio. “We just didn’t create enough opportunities throughout the game.”
The Hawks controlled much of the first half. They took the lead in the 23rd minute when Keaton Kobow blasted a shot from about 30 yards out toward the goal.
Kobow may have been trying to set up Landon Benge, but the ball skipped past his teammate and then eluded Valley goalkeeper Alexander Poitan and rolled into the net.
Unfortunately, Ankeny was unable to carry its momentum over to the second half. That’s when Valley began to dominate, getting a go-ahead goal and an assist from Eric Foust.
Alex Mirsky and Cristian Catalan also scored for the Tigers, who are now 1-0 in the CIML Conference and 2-1 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 0-2 in the league and overall.
“We became passive in the second half, and we were thoroughly outplayed,” Fuccio said. “The sky isn’t falling, but we need to put a complete performance together.”
The Hawks will travel to Indianola on Thursday for a non-conference game against the Indians (1-2).
