The Ankeny girls’ soccer team celebrated its Senior Night on Friday with its most complete effort of the season.
The sixth-ranked Hawkettes got two goals and two assists from Ava Paoli in a 5-0 victory over visiting Dowling Catholic. Paoli was honored along with fellow seniors Allison Hawkins, Kyla Schaapveld, Avery Taylor and Sydney VanHouweling.
“I can’t say enough about the five seniors we celebrated tonight,” said Ankeny coach Gavin Mason. “They were all excellent, as they have been for us all season. When Ava is on form like she was tonight, she is just about impossible to defend.”
Paoli scored the game’s first goal in the 13th minute. Isabel Squires then added another goal about 6 minutes later to give Ankeny a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Abby Steinkamp found the net in the 52nd minute to extend the Hawkettes’ margin to 3-0. About a minute later, Paolo scored again for her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
“We played the most complete 80 minutes we have yet this season,” Mason said. “We were consistently dangerous every time we went forward and were ruthless in finishing our chances. Avery is a relentless worker, and her ability to drive forward with the ball out of the midfield opens up so much for us going forward. Allison and Kyla were great defensively in the midfield, winning the ball back for us consistently and then providing us with a platform to keep possession.”
Mason also praised the play of VanHouweling, who scored Ankeny’s final goal with about 6 minutes remaining.
“Syd has been playing center back, which is probably not necessarily her first choice of position, but she has been essential there for us with her physicality and composure on the ball,” Mason said. “And tonight, we were able to move her forward for a brief cameo at striker and within just a few minutes she scored a beautiful goal.”
The win improved Ankeny to 3-3 in the CIML Conference and 7-4 overall. The Maroons’ records dropped to 1-3-1 and 2-6-3.
The Hawkettes got a boost from the return of sophomore goalkeeper Paige Hartz, who had missed the previous two games after suffering a concussion during a win over Southeast Polk a week ago. She made three saves while playing the entire game, allowing Squires, Schaapveld and Sophia Kephart to play their usual positions.
Squires, Steinkamp and Kiersten Petersen each had an assist in the win.
“Having Paige back gave us a big boost, and defensively we stayed engaged for the full 80 minutes,” Mason said. “That’s probably what I’m most happy with on the night–that we finally kept a clean sheet.”
Ankeny will travel to Waukee Northwest on Tuesday for another conference game against the No. 1 Wolves, who are 4-0-1 in the league and 7-0-2 overall. Northwest has outscored its opponents by a 31-3 margin this season.