Friday’s game at North Polk was supposed to give the Ankeny boys’ soccer team an opportunity to work on some things before opening its CIML Conference schedule.
But when the non-conference matchup was postponed until May 7 due to bad weather, those plans were foiled.
Ankeny instead kicked off its season Tuesday against visiting Valley, which handed the Hawks a 1-0 loss in last year’s Class 4A semifinals. It was the second game of the year for the reigning champs, who had opened their season on March 31 with a 2-0 win at Cedar Falls.
After a scoreless first half, the Tigers got a pair of goals from Leighton Hukee and Yahir Cardenas-Fuentes in the final 40 minutes to post a 2-0 victory on a frigid night.
“It was not the result we wanted, but there were a lot of takeaways from the performance,” said Ankeny coach Trevor Fuccio. “I thought the boys battled. It wasn’t easy for 10 of our guys to get their first varsity appearance versus the defending state champions, but I thought they did well.”
Saidi Ramadhani, Emmit Murenzi and Adam Bilal each had an assist for the Tigers, who outshot Ankeny by a 14-5 margin. Hukee finished with a game-high four shots.
The Hawks got three shots from Cal Wahlberg and two from Keaton Kobow. Both of Kobow’s shots were on goal.
Ankeny goalkeeper Jackson Dockendorff recorded nine saves in the loss.
“The goal wasn’t to be the best versions of ourselves on match day 1 with this young group,” Fuccio said. “The goal was to set a foundation for us moving forward and improve every day so we are ready for late May.”
The Hawks will host a non-conference game against Indianola (1-1) on Thursday.
