The Ankeny Centennial girls’ soccer team moved into a tie for first place in the CIML Conference with a 3-1 victory over visiting Johnston on Tuesday.
The third-ranked Jaguars got some help from No. 6 Ankeny, which traveled to No. 1 Waukee Northwest and battled the Wolves to a 0-0 draw. Northwest is now 4-0-2 in the conference, while Centennial improved to 5-1 in the league and 11-1-1 overall.
“We appreciate that from Ankeny, and I thought that was a very possible result,” said Centennial coach Chris Allen. “Ankeny has really been coming on, so that doesn’t surprise me.”
The Jaguars took care of their own business by defeating No. 10 Johnston, which was coming off a 2-2 draw against No. 2 Valley on Friday. The Dragons finished 3-4-1 in the conference and fell to 4-6-1 overall.
Centennial jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a strong wind behind its backs. Jaeden Jackson scored a goal off a long ball from Evie Boyle at the 12:17 mark, then the Jaguars added an own goal about 10 minutes later when a Johnston defender tried to clear the ball after a corner kick and inadvertently found the net instead.
The Dragons recovered, though, and got a goal going into the wind with about 5 minutes left in the half.
“I felt like (more goals) might be coming after those first two goals happened,” Allen said. “But they made the most of that one shot later, so hat’s off to Johnston for not giving up. A 2-0 lead can be a dangerous lead because a team can settle in, and it proved to be dangerous for us.”
The score remained 2-1 throughout most of the second half. Centennial didn’t seal the win until Emmarie Becker scored off a Boyle corner kick in the 71st minute.
“This is when we just take the win,” Allen said. “We were proud of the response in the second half. We knew the wind and the pressure would come with the game still being pretty tight. We expected them to come at us, and I thought the girls handled that adversity well. We weathered the storm and obviously got to the other end and made the most of a corner kick, and that speaks well of them.”
The Jaguars will host a conference game against Southeast Polk on Friday at Northview, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Rams are 1-5 in the league and 4-9-1 overall after posting a 2-0 triumph at Dowling Catholic on Tuesday.
A Centennial win on Friday would likely set up a showdown against Northwest on May 19 for the conference title.
“We’ve got to take care of one game at a time,” Allen said. “We’ve got to play a smart game on Friday and stay healthy.”
