Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer coach Brian Duax might have aged a little bit during Thursday’s non-conference game against visiting Norwalk.
“I’ve got more gray hair now,” Duax said following the Jaguars’ uninspiring 1-0 victory.
Centennial (4-0) scored the game’s only goal midway through the second half to remain unbeaten. Tate Duax converted a penalty kick for his fifth goal of the season after Garrett Christensen was fouled in the box.
Norwalk’s record dropped to 3-3, but Duax said the Warriors deserved a better result.
“Norwalk was good enough that we told our boys that they deserved a draw tonight,” he said. “We didn’t deserve a win. We deserved a draw because we didn’t play well enough to deserve the win.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Will Krueger got his first start of the year for the Jaguars. He recorded a clean sheet without making a save.
“I don’t think (Norwalk) registered a single shot on goal, and I don’t think they registered a single corner (kick),” Duax said. “The ball was in their end 90 percent of the game, but you’ve got to have some guys who just want to run through a brick wall to score a goal. And we didn’t have those tonight.”
Duax was worried about a letdown after his team’s impressive start to the season, which began with a 5-0 demolition of Waukee Northwest on April 7.
“It was a very lackluster, very complacent, very lack of energy game that I was scared would happen based on the success that we’ve had. And it came to fruition,” he said. “I told the guys before the game that Norwalk is a very disciplined team that will battle their brains out and if you guys don’t come to play, it’s going to be a dogfight. And it was in terms of the score.”
Duax is hoping that it will be a learning experience for his team.
“We were just average tonight, and average is not good enough for the goals and expectations of this team,” he said.
The Jaguars will travel to Urbandale on Friday for a CIML Conference game against the J-Hawks, won won the Class 3A state title a year ago. Urbandale is 1-2 in the league and 2-2-1 overall after falling to Northwest, 1-0, on Monday.
The contest could be impacted by possible severe weather.
“It’s spring in Iowa, so that’s what we have to deal with,” Duax said. “But I hope the boys come out with more energy if we get to play.”
