The seventh biggest story in Hillcrest Academy athletics this year, takes us to the soccer pitch for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls team. Hillcrest and Mid-Prairie share a program and student athletes from Hillcrest have left their fingerprints on the program’s success. This year, the team was 9-6, including a key victory over rival Washington 2-1 in penalty kicks, spurred by goals from Esther Hughes and Kaitlin Martin, and 11 saves from Ainsley Lueck. The Hawks were also 7-0 winners, in arguably their most dominant performance against Monticello where Hughes scored five goals and put up two assists while Martin and Julia Boller each added one to go with Lueck’s clean sheet of three saves.

Team leaders for the Golden Hawks included Hughes 26 goals and 86 shots on goal, both eighth most in Iowa in Class 1A and 58 points. Kaitlin Martin had 10 assists, 10th most in 1A to go with 10 goals, 46 shots on goal and 30 points. In goal, Ainsley Lueck made 111 saves with a 79.3% save percentage. Members of the team at Mid-Prairie that attend Hillcrest Academy included Boller, Morgyn Nafziger, Hughes, Evelyn Gerber, Leah Bontrager, and Lydia Beachy.

Tune in Friday when we highlight important wins for Hillcrest boys programs during the 2021-22 school year.