North girls head to state
By Jerry Giese, Journal sports writer | Posted: Tuesday, June 03, 2008
North's Riley Rexius battles Sergeant Bluff-Luton's Mackenzie Bates for ball control in game action during a Class 2A regional final match-up Monday at Olsen Stadium. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)
It was a struggle for North's girls soccer team to get that elusive insurance goal Monday night.
Ashlie Stokes finally got it -- scoring unassisted with 1:20 left in the game -- as the third-ranked Stars qualified for the Class 2A state tournament with a 2-0 win in the Region 1 champinship game over Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Elwood Olsen Stadium.
"It was a relief," sighed Stokes, a freshman forward, who rifled in her team-leading 12th goal past SB-L junior goalkeeper Katie Speed, who collected 20 saves and stopped seven shots from relatively close range.
"We all had shots," added Stokes. "Two of them just fell. We had really good crosses. We connected on our passes. We just couldn't finish our shots."
"It was like a force field around the net," said North Coach Aaron Kolbo. "Their keeper was playing awesome and had a ton of great saves.
"It was frustrating. We had good crosses, we had good ideas, we were in the offense we like to play. So many of them were close and we couldn't put them in."
North will take a 12-0 record into a 1:15 p.m. first-round state tournament match on Thursday at Muscatine against No. 2 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (15-2), which advanced with a 4-0 win over Linn-Mar in a Region 6 final at Cedar Rapids.
North fell 3-2 in a shootout to Kennedy last year in a first-round state match. Kennedy lost 1-0 in the 2A title game to West Des Moines Valley.
Sergeant Bluff-Luton (10-3) was outshot by a whopping 31-3 margin against a squad which qualified for the state tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Speed wasn't the goalkeeper when Coach Hilary Hoskins' Warriors started the season. Freshman Brittney Kleinhesselink played the first four games until breaking her wrist.
The two goalies combined for four shutouts. Heading into the game, the Warriors had allowed just 12 goals and trailed 1-0 when Taylor Hatting scored on a assist from Kelsey Reitmeier at the 5:46 mark of the first half.
"Katie was phenomenal," said an emotional Hoskins, who gave birth to twins last Wednesday morning, daughter Ava (6 pounds, 15 ounces) and son Elijah (7 pounds, 1 ounce), via Cesarean section at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center.
Their mother missed that night's 1-0 first-round regional win over East as well as the 2-1 win over West two nights later.
"There's just no words to decribe what Katie did," said Hoskins. "She stepped up. She was the savior. If there was an MVP for the game, it would be her.
"She also kept our defense motivated. She was there for everybody."
Speed wasn't the only Warrior stepping up on defense. The Stars' Stokes, Hatting, Reitmeier and Sierra Hseih also experienced frustation while defenders Audrey Jenkins, Lauren Jung, Lauren Bauwman, Rachel Bartholomew and Jessica Saar stepped in their way.
"The longer time it was at one goal, the more confidence (SB-L) was gaining," said Kolbo, whose team got two saves from junior goalkeeper Taylor Culver, who picked up her 10th shutout.
Kolbo knows his team will need more offense in the state tournament.
"We have to finish better," he said. "You can't score just one goal at state and expect to win. We have to pass well, communicate well and if we have chances, we have to capitalize."
Ashlie Stokes finally got it -- scoring unassisted with 1:20 left in the game -- as the third-ranked Stars qualified for the Class 2A state tournament with a 2-0 win in the Region 1 champinship game over Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Elwood Olsen Stadium.
"It was a relief," sighed Stokes, a freshman forward, who rifled in her team-leading 12th goal past SB-L junior goalkeeper Katie Speed, who collected 20 saves and stopped seven shots from relatively close range.
"We all had shots," added Stokes. "Two of them just fell. We had really good crosses. We connected on our passes. We just couldn't finish our shots."
"It was like a force field around the net," said North Coach Aaron Kolbo. "Their keeper was playing awesome and had a ton of great saves.
"It was frustrating. We had good crosses, we had good ideas, we were in the offense we like to play. So many of them were close and we couldn't put them in."
North will take a 12-0 record into a 1:15 p.m. first-round state tournament match on Thursday at Muscatine against No. 2 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (15-2), which advanced with a 4-0 win over Linn-Mar in a Region 6 final at Cedar Rapids.
North fell 3-2 in a shootout to Kennedy last year in a first-round state match. Kennedy lost 1-0 in the 2A title game to West Des Moines Valley.
Sergeant Bluff-Luton (10-3) was outshot by a whopping 31-3 margin against a squad which qualified for the state tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Speed wasn't the goalkeeper when Coach Hilary Hoskins' Warriors started the season. Freshman Brittney Kleinhesselink played the first four games until breaking her wrist.
The two goalies combined for four shutouts. Heading into the game, the Warriors had allowed just 12 goals and trailed 1-0 when Taylor Hatting scored on a assist from Kelsey Reitmeier at the 5:46 mark of the first half.
"Katie was phenomenal," said an emotional Hoskins, who gave birth to twins last Wednesday morning, daughter Ava (6 pounds, 15 ounces) and son Elijah (7 pounds, 1 ounce), via Cesarean section at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center.
Their mother missed that night's 1-0 first-round regional win over East as well as the 2-1 win over West two nights later.
"There's just no words to decribe what Katie did," said Hoskins. "She stepped up. She was the savior. If there was an MVP for the game, it would be her.
"She also kept our defense motivated. She was there for everybody."
Speed wasn't the only Warrior stepping up on defense. The Stars' Stokes, Hatting, Reitmeier and Sierra Hseih also experienced frustation while defenders Audrey Jenkins, Lauren Jung, Lauren Bauwman, Rachel Bartholomew and Jessica Saar stepped in their way.
"The longer time it was at one goal, the more confidence (SB-L) was gaining," said Kolbo, whose team got two saves from junior goalkeeper Taylor Culver, who picked up her 10th shutout.
Kolbo knows his team will need more offense in the state tournament.
"We have to finish better," he said. "You can't score just one goal at state and expect to win. We have to pass well, communicate well and if we have chances, we have to capitalize."
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 2 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
Kathi wrote on Jun 3, 2008 4:24 PM:
sbl wrote on Jun 3, 2008 8:11 AM: