This wasn’t the way that Simon Brown wanted to close out his Ankeny girls’ soccer coaching tenure.
As bad as he felt for himself though, Brown felt even worse for his players.
The fifth-ranked Hawkettes lost to No. 4 Waukee, 2-1, in a shootout in a Class 3A quarterfinal on Tuesday at the rain-soaked Lied Recreation Fields in Ames. They finished their sixth and final season under Brown with an 11-3-3 record.
“I feel so bad for the girls,” said Brown, who is leaving to become an assistant coach at Wisconsin after posting an overall mark of 87-23-4 at Ankeny. “It was a tough game. I thought we had a lot of momentum; we were trying to win the game. There were a lot positive things.”
Ankeny nearly won the game at the end of the second overtime on a brilliant run by Alli Macke. The senior dribbled through the Warriors’ defense and took a shot that almost produced a golden goal, but Waukee keeper Lauren Nidey made a diving stop to force the PKs.
In the shootout, the Hawkettes got goals by Sydney Van Houweling and Camryn Dietz on their first two shots. But Waukee answered each time.
After Nidey made a save on Ankeny’s third shot, the Warriors got a goal from Mira Horner to take the lead. The Hawkettes needed to respond, but Nidey then came up with another stop.
Freshman Lyla Puetz followed with the game-winner for Waukee (10-1-6). She blasted a shot into the right side of the net that eluded diving Ankeny goalkeeper Sylvia Bartlett.
“These girls have done a tremendous job over their four years,” Brown said. “Our seniors deserved (to move on), but sport is just cruel. Going to PKs is a horrible way to lose.”
The two teams had battled to a scoreless draw on April 18 at Ankeny. Nidey made 11 saves in that game, and she racked up 15 more on Tuesday.
Brown said the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee recruit simply wasn’t challenged enough by the Hawkettes.
“We didn’t really test her,” he said. “We had a couple of half-chances. But she made a couple of saves when it was important.”
Ankeny capitalized on an error by Nidey to take an early 1-0 lead. Abby Steinkamp scored her fifth goal of the season off an assist by Avery Taylor at the 7:07 mark.
“(Nidey) had a big mistake at the start that cost them,” Brown said. “She’s human, and that let us in the game.”
The Hawkettes appeared to be in control until Waukee got an equalizer in the 24th minute from Tori Bohnenkamp, who scored on a beautiful shot that she lofted over Bartlett’s outstretched arms.
That allowed the Warriors to settle in, defend, and eventually send the game to a shootout.
“Credit to our girls for the season they had, and credit to Waukee for defending the way they wanted to defend,” Brown said. “They came through in the end. We practice our PKs every day. We know our lineup. But if the keeper guesses the right way, there’s not really much else you can do.”
Waukee will play No. 1 Waukee Northwest (13-1-2) in the semifinals on Thursday. The Wolves advanced with a 3-0 victory over defending champion Bettendorf.
