Friday’s game against visiting Southeast Polk got off to a rocky start for the Ankeny girls’ soccer team.
“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for us in the first 6 minutes,” said Ankeny coach Gavin Mason. “We were put under pressure, gave up a silly goal right away, and then our goalkeeper (Paige Hartz) got hurt and wasn’t able to continue.”
Hartz had played every minute of every game this season, forcing Mason to go to Plan B. He called upon junior midfielder Isabel Squires, one of the team’s leading scorers, to make her varsity debut at goalkeeper.
She held the Rams scoreless the rest of the way as fourth-ranked Ankeny rallied for a 3-1 victory.
“Izzy stepped in to replace Paige in goal and never once flinched,” Mason said. “I think the rest of the team followed her lead and rallied behind her.”
Ankeny got an equalizer from Avery Taylor right before halftime. It was her third goal of the season and gave the Hawkettes some much-needed momentum.
“Abby (Steinkamp) and Ava (Paoli) worked tirelessly and consistently beat their defenders to create good chances for us,” Mason said. “Similar to the Norwalk game on Tuesday, it took a while and we just couldn’t quite take advantage of our opportunities, but we trusted the goals would come and stuck to the task. It was absolutely massive for us to get the one before halftime, so that we came out of the locker room with momentum and belief.
“From there, we really took over the game,” he added.
Paoli eventually found the net to put Ankeny ahead. She later scored again for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.
The Hawkettes then relied on their defense to preserve the win.
“Abby (Stetich), Avery and Kyla (Schaapveld) all had phenomenal games in the midfield and helped us to sustain possession and pressure,” Mason said. “Presley (Sullivan) also gave us some really good minutes tonight, and our back line was once again solid. Izzy didn’t end up having to do too much in goal because we closed down space well and didn’t let them get many shots off.”
Stetich had two assists and Sullivan added another one for Ankeny, which improved to 2-2 in the CIML Conference and 5-3 overall. It was the seventh consecutive loss for the Rams, whose records dropped to 0-5 and 1-9-1.
“I have never been more proud of a team than I am of this group for the way they responded tonight,” Mason said. “Facing every kind of adversity, all of the girls stepped up and played their hearts out and absolutely deserved to come away with the win. Tonight was a massive test of character, and every one of the girls stepped up.”
The Hawkettes will play a conference game at No. 6 Waukee on Monday. The action will get under way at 7 p.m. at Timberline Stadium.
The Warriors are 2-0-2 in the league and 4-1-3 overall. They are coming off a 0-0 draw at No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Friday.
