It was a Senior Night that Camryn Dietz and her teammates on the Ankeny girls’ soccer squad will never forget.
Dietz played for the first time this season as the fifth-ranked Hawkettes rolled to a 6-0 victory over visiting Urbandale in their regular-season finale on Friday. The Drake recruit has almost fully recovered from an offseason knee injury.
“I was really grateful to get to start,” said Dietz. “It’s been such a long and hard recovery process so being able to get a start in this season has made everything really worth it! I’m really hoping to make an impact in the postseason, even if it’s a few minutes. I’ve learned to appreciate all the time I get on the field and will give it my all!”
Ankeny coach Simon Brown said he thinks Dietz is really close to making an impact.
“It was good to see Cam out there playing again,” he said. “She can initiate contact in practice now, and I think next week she can be in (full) contact. Even if she can go out there and give us a couple of minutes, that could change the game for us. It would be great to add another Division I player to our team when we’re already doing really well. I know she really wants to be involved. We’re hopeful that she can help us before the end of the season.”
Ankeny built a 3-0 halftime lead in Friday’s game, then added three more goals in the second half. Six different players found the net for the Hawkettes.
Alli Macke led the way with a goal and three assists, while Abby Steinkamp added a goal and an assist. Macke leads the team with 13 goals and 31 points on the season.
Senior Marlee Buchan was among the other players who scored. It was the first goal of her varsity career.
“You couldn’t ask for much more on Senior Night,” Brown said. “All the seniors that were there got to start.”
Sophia Kephart, Ava Paoli and Sydney Van Houweling also had goals in the win. Isabel Squires added an assist.
Ankeny finished 4-1-3 in the CIML Conference and improved to 9-2-3 overall. It was the eighth straight loss for the J-Hawks, whose records dropped to 0-8 and 4-11-1.
The Hawkettes placed third in the league behind No. 1 Waukee Northwest and No. 2 Valley.
“We’re right in the mix there in the best conference in the state,” Brown said. “This was a good way to finish the regular season and bring some momentum into the postseason. I think we’re in a good spot. We’re healthy right now, which is what we wanted. And we’ve got some time to rest up this week.”