Cal Wahlberg and Landon Benge each scored a pair of goals to lead the Ankeny boys’ soccer team to a 6-2 victory over visiting Cedar Falls in a Class 4A substate semifinal on a rainy Tuesday night.
Austin Lundberg and Andrew Loder also found the net for the eighth-ranked Hawks, who matched their season-high of six goals in a win over Ames on April 19.
“It feels really good. We deserve it,” said Benge, who also had three assists. “We went out and played hard as a team. Obviously, we could have scored a few more. I missed a few myself, but I think it was a good win as a team.”
Ankeny raised its record to 10-5-2. The Tigers finished the season at 6-6-3.
“Anytime you’re playing and you’re ending a team’s season, it’s always going to be a battle for both teams,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio. “I didn’t think we played very well. I thought we made a lot of mistakes throughout the game, but overall we battled–the buildup play was there throughout the night–and I’m happy that we’re moving on.”
Lundberg gave the Hawks an early lead when he beat Cedar Falls goalkeeper Adrian Alejo-Rubio and scored about 6 minutes into the game for his third goal of the season. He was assisted by Benge.
Cedar Falls tied it at 1-1 on a penalty kick by Elvin Bajrektarevic in the 17th minute, but Ankeny then regained the lead just 2 minutes later. Wahlberg scored off an assist from Benge to give the Hawks a 2-1 advantage at halftime.
“Lando crossed it in,” said Wahlberg. “It just bounced in the box, and I saw an open goal and just pounced on it. It was just instinct there.”
Alejo-Rubio came up with a big save on a penalty kick by Lundberg in the 53rd minute, but Ankeny kept the pressure on and scored twice in the next 5 minutes to build a 4-1 lead.
Wahlberg scored off an assist by Brian Jimenez for his sixth goal of the season. Loder then scored his seventh goal off an assist by Benge shortly thereafter.
“We’d watched film of them, and we knew there were opportunities with the back line and we could definitely put some in,” Wahlberg said. “It was good that we executed that.”
Cedar Falls scored an own goal in the 64th minute to close the gap to 4-2. Benge answered, though, with a goal less than a minute later.
Benge added another goal to complete the scoring with about 8 minutes left to play. It was his team-leading 24th goal of the year.
Wahlberg assisted on both of Benge’s goals, giving him a team-high 17 on the season.
“The key was our midfield winning every single battle,” Benge said. “That’s what led to us scoring a lot of goals was our midfield controlling the game, and it worked. We showed that we have a really solid midfield that can beat anybody in the state.”
The game was played in a steady sprinkle that resulted in some slippery conditions on the turf. The wet ball likely contributed to the Tigers’ second goal.
“Sometimes it’s not going to be pretty in these conditions,” Fuccio said. “Obviously, it makes for a little messier game. But, we’ve got to hold ourselves to a standard if we want to keep competing for the next couple of weeks.
“We can’t expect to have as many chances as we did tonight on Thursday. We’ve got to be more defensively sound. We didn’t allow a whole lot in the defensive third, but we still gave up two goals. So we just have to be cleaner,” he added.
Ankeny will host No. 10 Des Moines Lincoln in the substate final on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Railsplitters (11-4-1) advanced with a 3-0 victory over Ottumwa.
“They’re a good team,” Benge said. “I think we’ll prepare well for them, and we’ll be ready. If we play like we did tonight and just finish more, then we shouldn’t have a problem.”
Lincoln recorded its sixth clean sheet of the season on Tuesday.
“They’re really physical,” Wahlberg said. “We’ll watch some film (Wednesday), and we just have to come out ready to play. They’re going to bring it. The season is on the line.”
Brandon Hernandez-Contreras leads the Railsplitters with 14 goals.
“They’re a quality team,” Fuccio said. “They’re going to travel well, and they’re going to bring a lot of energy here. We’re going to have to match their intensity.”