(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team had state championship aspirations in 2025, but the Jaguars’ hopes fell just short.
It was a deep shot in the 76th minute by Abi Roberts of Linn-Mar (Marion) that ended Centennial’s season on Thursday as the third-ranked Jaguars dropped a 2-1 decision in the Class 3A semifinals at Ames.
“I’m heartbroken for our team,” said senior captain Olivia Kroska. “I’m disappointed in myself. I didn’t have the game that I was hoping to come out and play for my team. But I’m also so proud of us–we’ve worked so hard to get where we are, played amazing soccer all year long, and everyone has been putting in effort all year long to get to where we are. I’m just going to miss everyone so much.”
In a field where the top six teams were all from the CIML Conference, Linn-Mar was just one of the two sides the Jaguars could have ran into that they didn’t have any experience playing against this season.
But after the quarterfinals, the Jaguars knew they’d have a tough challenge ahead of them if they wanted to earn a trip to the title game.
Linn-Mar came in as the No. 7 seed and proceeded to post a 3-0 clean sheet over No. 2 Valley on Tuesday, while Centennial was able to outlast Johnston in a penalty-kick shootout.
“I was excited for this game,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “Watching Linn-Mar on film, they looked like a team that was very comparable to us and I was excited to see good soccer out of them.”
It took Centennial a couple of minutes to find any kind of scoring chances, and the Jaguars eventually had some prime opportunities. They outshot Linn-Mar by a 19-9 margin.
Ava Martin and Olivia Kroska both found open looks at the goal, and Evie Boyle had a chance on a free kick just outside the box leading up to a scoreless halftime.
Even right out of half, Centennial had a pair of crosses with Martin to Emily Conger and Adeline Kroska to Martin that ended with shots from in front of the goal getting blocked by defenders.
Linn-Mar was the first team to score despite the Jaguars setting themselves up with multiple chances.
Centennial gave the Lions one too many chances around the net with a corner kick leading into a yellow card and a close free kick, which led to a second corner kick that Linn-Mar was able to capitalize on. Dreya Kern scored in the 57th minute off an assist by Aubrey Luck.
The Jaguars found themselves in a similar spot as their quarterfinal game where they needed a goal with the clock winding down.
Things changed in the 68th minute when Emmarie Becker played a long through ball down to Martin, who put a defender into the grass with a touch to her left before firing in the equalizer. It was her 16th goal of the season and the 48th of her career.
“We just told them how proud we are of them,” Allen said. “They didn’t go down without a fight, and it’s unfortunate that things turned out the way they did. I thought we played pretty good soccer two days after 100 minutes of the most emotional and physical soccer.”
Just when the Jaguars were looking like they’d enter into extra time once again, Linn-Mar’s star forward took Centennial by surprise.
Linn-Mar goalkeeper Paisley Baker cleared the ball away from the Lions’ goal, and there was a battle for the ball just inside the Jaguars’ half of the field when Roberts found a quick opening to blast a shot from a long way out.
Centennial goalkeeper Rylee Litchfield tracked the ball in the air, but Roberts’ deep strike dropped just over the outstretched arms of the sophomore and into the goal to give the Lions the go-ahead goal with just 4 minutes left to play.
It was the 41st goal of the season for Roberts, who ranks second among the scoring leaders in Class 3A.
As hard as the Jaguars tried, they just couldn’t find much pressure in the final minutes with their season coming to an end at the Lied Recreation Fields. Linn-Mar (17-3) will play No. 1 Waukee Northwest (14-1-2) for the title on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Cyclone Sports Complex, where the Lions will try to avenge a 2-0 loss in the Crosstown Invitational on April 5 at Centennial.
The Jaguars finished with a 15-4-2 record.
“I think the importance lies in the hunger (the young players) will hopefully have after a moment like this,” Allen said. “If they don’t get that experience, they don’t know what it feels to desire it even more the next season around. Hopefully, that will feed those kids and that they’re ready to step in and lead our next group of young kids.”
It wasn’t the fact that the Jaguars fell just short of the state title game that hurt the most for them after the game. It was having their closely-knit team play its final game together.
There’s no doubt that the program will remain in good hands with how things project from a young and talented lineup. There’s just a bit of sadness that this 2025 group wasn’t able to bring home the title together.
They were led by a strong senior class, which included four players who were on the 2022 state championship team. Underneath the seniors is a young roster that features 10 players that were freshmen or sophomores. Some of them played key roles for the Jaguars all season.
“Everyone that’s stepped onto the field has been coming up in the program, and they’ve grown so much,” Kroska said. “I’m just so proud of everyone. Everyone has grown so much, and I know they’re going to be amazing next year too.”