Girls
April 19, 2023
Iowa City West girls soccer kicked off Friday at 5:30 at the University of Iowa soccer fields, against City High, a cross-town rival. The girls had just come off a 4-3 strong comeback win against another cross-town rival, Liberty High, last Tuesday. Confidence was running high for the team and a win against City would put the team at the top in town.
The first half started with back-and-forth shots on goal between City and West, with no luck on either end. In the 14th minute, attacking midfielder Diana Tivanskya ’25 made a well-placed shot attempt.
Following that shot attempt, goalie Lauryn Hynek ’26 rushed out to the upper 18th in the early 25th minute to make an excellent save.
Quickly following Hynek’s save, in the late 25th minute Rachel Schafbuch ’25 received a cross in by Yuning Shao ’24 to take another shot attempt on goal.
City followed with another shot on Hynek, but West took the ball back. Right back, Maya Mozena ’24 ran up the sides after receiving it from Hynek in the 27th minute. Mozena crossed it to the upper center of City half from the right side of the halfway line to Emma Potthoff ’25. Potthoff led the team last year with five assists, but this time she took the goal herself. After receiving the pass from Mozena, Potthoff ran into a City player but just got on it enough to hit it into the far left post. The Trojans now led 1-0.
West kept strong after the goal. Another attempt on goal by a breakaway pass led by Shao to Schafbuch, but the goal got hit wide in the 29th minute. Not much more action followed and West ended the first half leading City 1-0.
With City High following West in the 2nd half, they came out aggressive. In the 54th minute, center-back Alyson Skala ’24 received a nasty tackle from one of City’s wingers. Skala was carried off the field and is predicted to have a sprained ankle.
In the 61st minute, a City High player received a red card for tackling Paz Martinez ’25 from the back. This led City to having only 11 players on the field for the remaining minutes. City followed up with a yellow card in the 67th minute again.
Even with a player down City kept on coming to West’s goal. In the 68th minute, the Little Hawks came to attack West’s goal, but Hynek rushed out to the ball and stopped a shot by deflecting it with her hand. Off the deflection, City made another shot attempt but Hynek bounced on the ball stopping them from scoring.
Another final run by the Trojan was led by Shafbuch with a breakaway pass to Potthoff who crossed it over to Ava Garcia Van Auken ’24, who passed it to Shao, and then back to Garcia in the 68th minute. Garcia chipped the ball over the goalie but ended up lifting the ball too high. It ended up bouncing on the crossbar and going over.
In the 76th minute West got their first corner kick of the game, Garcia kicked the ball to the center but was booted out by City’s defense.
After falling to City’s girls soccer team last year (1-3), West came back successfully for Coach Rosenthal’s final season. The Trojans face off against Ankeny Centennial next on April 17 at 5pm.
