(EDITOR’S NOTE: Some photos from Thursday’s game will be added to this story later today.)
Ankeny senior Avery Taylor didn’t want Thursday’s game to be the last one of her high school soccer career.
Taylor scored a goal in the 70th minute to put an exclamation point on the sixth-ranked Hawkettes’ 3-1 victory over No. 11 Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a Class 3A regional final at Ankeny.
The win allowed Ankeny (11-5-1) to advance to the state tournament for the ninth consecutive season.
“Oh my gosh, it’s so awesome,” said Taylor. “Making state my freshman, sophomore and junior year and then finally my senior year, it’s a really great way to cap off my career. I’m so thrilled.”
Sydney VanHouweling and Isabel Squires also scored goals for the Hawkettes, who overcame some heavy rain and lightning that delayed the start of the game for nearly two hours.
“I’m just so proud of the girls,” said first-year Ankeny coach Gavin Mason. “They really earned it tonight. With the circumstances of having the lightning delay, we didn’t know if we were going to get it in. But man, we just came out with such great energy and intensity and played that way for 80 minutes. (The result) was well deserved.”
VanHouweling gave Ankeny the lead for good when she scored on a free kick at the 31:54 mark. It was her third goal of the season.
VanHouweling’s blast deflected off the hands of Cedar Rapids Kennedy goalkeeper Ayah Habhab and went into the net.
“I didn’t really know that I was going to take it,” said VanHouweling. “I just kind of shot it and hoped for the best. I just kept saying, ‘I could do it.’ And I did it, so here we are.”
Ankeny extended its lead to 2-0 in the final minute of the half. Squires converted a penalty kick for her 13th goal of the year after the Cougars were called for a handball in the box.
“Kennedy hasn’t played any CIML teams this year so we were kind of left in the dark, but we just had to go out and play our game and stick to what we know,” Squires said.
The Cougars (10-2-2) cut their deficit in half in the 44th minute. Defender Olivia Boedeker-Pryor scored on a deep shot when the ball deflected off Ankeny keeper Paige Hartz, hit the crossbar and went in.
However, the Hawkettes’ defense then stifled Kennedy the rest of the way. The Cougars’ only previous loss came to No. 7 Linn-Mar (Marion), 5-1, on April 30.
Ankeny had defeated the Lions by the same score on April 10.
“I’ve never played them in my four years here,” Taylor said of the Cougars. “We don’t have much of a program history against them. They were definitely an unknown team. They’re not in our conference and they don’t play any CIML teams so it’s hard to play against someone we don’t know much about.”
The Hawkettes sealed the win when Taylor scored off a rebound at the 69:15 mark for her sixth goal of the season. Fellow senior Ava Paoli set up the goal when she beat a defender and rifled a shot that deflected off Habhab.
Mason was proud of the way his players responded to the lightning delay.
“As a coach, you’re wondering how the mentality is going to be,” he said. “It’s hard to sit in the locker room for an hour and a half and then come out and have a shortened warmup and step on the field right away. But they did a phenomenal job. They were clearly up for it. I’m really proud of them.”
The Ankeny players simply tried to stay focused.
“The mental part was the biggest thing, just staying engaged in the game,” Taylor said. “We knew some of the other games had been postponed so we were just sitting around waiting for it to be our turn, but we were also staying engaged because we knew we might have a chance to go out and play like we did.”
Now, the Hawkettes are headed to the Class 3A quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Lied Recreation Fields in Ames. They won’t find out their opponent until later on Friday.
“It’s really great,” Squires said of the state tournament berth. “It’s been a great season, and I’m really excited for the rest of this.”
Ankeny could face a rematch against No. 3 Ankeny Centennial if the Jaguars defeat No. 12 Cedar Rapids Prairie on Friday afternoon. Centennial posted a 1-0 win over the Hawkettes on April 23.
“I feel like we have some unfinished business with that game,” VanHouweling said. “I’m excited if we get to play them. I’m ready.”
Squires is also hoping for another Jag-Hawk showdown.
“I’m kind of hoping they win so we can get a good matchup again,” she said. “Crosstown rivalry is always the best, right?”
No. 5 Bettendorf and Linn-Mar are Ankeny’s other potential opponents.
“We’ll take whoever they put in front of us,” Mason said. “We’re excited to be there, and we’re not done. We’re excited for the next step. This was just step two for us. Whoever we play against, we’ll be ready to go.”