‘We started off really well’: Ankeny girls enjoy scoring eruption, roll past Maroons

Ankeny’s Ava Paoli (right) hugs teammate Abby Steinkamp after she assisted on Steinkamp’s goal during Friday’s game at Dowling Catholic. Joining the celebration at left is Alli Macke, who had a hat trick in the Hawkettes’ 6-0 victory. Paoli scored the other two goals and matched Macke with a pair of assists. (Photo courtesy of Travis Squires)

There have been times this season when the Ankeny girls’ soccer team has struggled to find the net.

That wasn’t the case on Friday night.

The fifth-ranked Hawkettes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and went on to post a 6-0 victory at No. 12 Dowling Catholic. They had scored a total of 13 goals in the previous 10 games.

“We started off really well,” said Ankeny coach Simon Brown, whose team scored its most goals since a 7-1 win at Cedar Rapids Prairie last season. “Obviously, it helps when you score in the first 5 minutes–and it was 2-0 after 10 minutes. We were able to get into a pretty good rhythm.”

**Ankeny’s Ava Paoli battles for the ball with Dowling Catholic’s Sophia Anthony-Bode during Friday’s game. (Photo courtesy of Travis Squires)**

Abby Steinkamp scored the game’s first goal off a cross by Ava Paoli. Shortly thereafter, Alli Macke scored an unassisted goal for the Hawkettes.

Later in the half, Paoli added another goal to make it 3-0.

Ankeny scored three more goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Macke scored off a corner kick by Sophia Kephart, then tacked on another goal to earn a hat trick.

Macke, who also had two assists, now leads the team with nine goals on the season. The Iowa recruit has scored 36 in her career.

**Ankeny’s Alli Macke boots the ball past Dowling Catholic goalkeeper Itzel Aguilar-Jaime and into the net for one of her three goals during Friday’s game. (Photo courtesy of Travis Squires)**

Paoli completed the scoring when she found the net again for her second goal of the game. She also had two assists, giving her a team-leading five on the season.

The Hawkettes improved to 3-1-2 in the CIML Conference and 7-2-2 overall. Dowling’s records dropped to 1-5 and 6-7.

The Maroons have suffered five straight shutout losses against CIML opponents after opening league play with a 3-0 win over Urbandale on April 8.

“I know they’ve had a couple of injuries, and we have too,” Brown said. “That can impact how you’re going to play.”

**Ankeny’s Avery Taylor takes a shot on goal during Friday’s game. (Photo courtesy of Travis Squires)**

Ankeny will now gear up for a busy week with three games over the next five days, beginning with Monday’s non-conference contest at North Polk. The Comets (10-1-2) are ranked third in Class 2A.

The Hawkettes will then host No. 1 Waukee Northwest (10-1) on Tuesday before hosting Urbandale (4-9-1) for their Senior Night on Friday.

“We want to figure it out now where we are with the team that we have,” Brown said. “Nobody in the state has really been able to lay a glove on Northwest, so we want to mix it up with them and see if we can compete with them.”