(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
After successfully co-hosting the Crosstown Invitational last weekend, the Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer players had all the momentum and motivation a team could need to start off CIML Conference play with a win.
However, Tuesday night didn’t end how the fifth-ranked Jaguars envisioned as they surrendered three goals in the second half for a 3-0 road loss against the No. 6 Waukee Northwest Wolves.
“Northwest is a quality side. We’ve had great battles with them, and this was another great battle,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “I think the score line probably isn’t going to say it was a great battle, but we had a good amount of the ball and need to learn to generate some better chances.”
The two teams had a pair of tight battles last season. One of them came in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament, where the Wolves outlasted Centennial, 3-2, in a shootout.
Both squads went 2-0 during the Crosstown Invitational while not conceding a single goal. So naturally, the Jaguars and Wolves found themselves in a scoreless tie through nearly 60 minutes of play.
Northwest (3-0) broke the drought in the 57th minute off a penalty kick from Lindsey Shane, which marked the first goal surrendered by the Jaguars (3-1) after three clean sheets to start the season.
The Wolves sealed their victory with a pair of late goals in the final 10 minutes.
Northwest’s second goal came off a free kick from Izzy Simonini in the 71st minute after the Jaguars’ attempt to head it out backfired for an own goal. The final goal came with about 3 minutes left off the foot of Olivia Stapleton, who managed to sneak it past the Jaguars in front of the goal.
“We want (sophomore goalkeeper Rylee Litchfield) to learn from every practice and learn from every game, and there were some things we could learn out here,” Allen said. “She had some really, really strong moments for us back there. Even though they put three in on her, it doesn’t take away from some really good clearances she had, some nice punches in traffic, and some brave moments.”
Centennial didn’t have a shortage of chances, but the Jaguars just couldn’t find a way to get the ball in the back of the net.
Senior captain Olivia Kroska found a pair of opportunities early in the game. She left one shot high following a cross from Ava Martin in the first minute of play before sending another shot just wide after a throw in a few minutes later.
Adeline Kroska found a chance with around 7 minutes left to play, but had it sail just high of the goal while attempting to make it a one-goal game.
But no missed scoring chance was bigger than the Jaguars losing out on a potential penalty kick toward the end of a scoreless first half.
The Wolves were originally whistled for a handball inside their own box, which would have lined Centennial up for a penalty kick with just over 8 minutes remaining in the half. The call was overturned after a discussion, giving Northwest a goal kick.
“Who knows if we get the PK that (got reversed), and it might be a different game,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, after going down one (goal), we had to chase a little bit and as we were chasing, we gave up two more.”
Even though the Jaguars were hoping to avenge their state tournament defeat and keep a perfect 4-0 record to start the season, they won’t have much time to dwell on their first loss of the year.
The CIML slate will only get tougher, and Centennial’s next matchup may prove to be its biggest of the regular season.
The Jaguars will now prepare for crosstown rival and No. 1 Ankeny, which sits at 3-0-1 on the season after starting out with three straight wins before tying No. 2 Valley in a scoreless draw on Tuesday.
One of the things Centennial will emphasize coming out of the loss to the Wolves is hitting the reset button mentally and physically. The Jaguars look to move past the loss and get rested up for a chance at a big rivalry win on Monday.
“I know the girls wanted this one bad,” Allen said. “This was our exit at state and it was a tough exit, but the CIML doesn’t take a break so we’ve got to turn around and get going toward the next one.”
