For the second time in four days, one goal proved to be enough for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team.
Freshman Kayle Pezzetti scored off an assist from Grace Poskevich at the 30:49 mark to give the third-ranked Jaguars a 1-0 victory at No. 12 Ames in a non-conference game on Monday.
“I thought that over the whole entire game we played really well,” said Pezzetti, whose team is now 10-1-1 on the season. “We were connecting a lot of passes and really played together and for each other, which really just showed on the field and makes it really fun.”
Pezzetti took seven of Centennial’s 28 shots and had four of the 12 shots on goal. But the Little Cyclones (7-2-2), who had posted three consecutive shutouts, were difficult to crack.
The Jaguars finally capitalized on an opportunity that was created by Poskevich, who earned her third assist of the year.
“I thought that in the moment I was just like one on one with a defender, and I know we talked about taking it to the end line a lot and it kind of just happened,” said Poskevich. “I knew that there would be a bunch of teammates waiting for the crossing, so I just took it to end line and there were people in the box waiting so we were able to put it away.”
Pezzetti found the net for her fourth goal of the season.
“Grace played a beautiful ball through the box, and it’s been something we’ve been working on a lot recently so it was amazing,” Pezzetti said. “I just happened to be there to hit it in.”
Centennial went on to record its third straight shutout and its seventh clean sheet of the season. Goalkeeper Rylee Litchfield made only one save on the night as the Jaguars’ back line prevented Ames from becoming dangerous most of the way.
“Overall, I thought we were pretty sharp throughout the match and held possession of the ball for the majority of the game,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “Box to box we looked especially good and had no problem advancing the ball and even creating chances. We just have to do a little bit better in our shot selection and execution.”
The Jaguars will host a CIML Conference game against No. 10 Johnston on Tuesday. The Dragons are 3-3 in the league and 4-5-1 overall after battling No. 2 Valley to a 2-2 draw on Friday.
Centennial will then host another conference game against Southeast Polk on Friday at Northview.
“I thought that we went into (Monday’s game) knowing that we have a big week ahead of us, but we were still able to keep the energy up and connect with each other really well,” Poskevich said. “I think it’s really good that we got a win going into this long week.”
