The Hillcrest Academy Raven boys soccer team takes their first postseason step tonight when they travel to Donnellson for a first round Class 1A substate match against fellow Southeast Iowa Superconference member Central Lee. The Ravens, the five seed in Class 1A, substate six, stand at 4-6 this year, 4-5 in the Superconference, after a tough stretch to close the regular season where they dropped four straight and six of seven. Last time out, they took an early 1-0 lead over the Washington Demons before dropping the match 5-1 in Kalona, despite the second goal of the season for sophomore Phoenix Anderson. This year the Ravens have outscored their opponents 21-19, posting a pair of defensive shut outs. Raven individual leaders include Grant Bender with six goals, Rowan Miller with three assists and Kyle Neuschwander with 36 saves and a 66% save percentage.

Central Lee is 5-9 on the season, 4-5 in league play, they are the four seed in substate six. They dropped back-to-back matches by 2-0 and 2-1 scores to Burlington Notre Dame to close the regular season, and three of their last four overall in the month of May. They have outscored their opponents 34-26 this season including two defensive shut outs. Landan Lowenberg leads the Central Lee attack with nine goals, Dante Merschman has a team best eight assists and in goal, Hunter Gregory has 67 saves and a 78% save percentage. This week on the KCII PM Sports Page, Hillcrest head coach Marcus Miller broke down the keys to success for his team in the postseason. “We need to tighten up defensively. Not give up easy shots, especially down the middle. That’s where the goals came from against Burlington Notre Dame and WACO. See if we can create some sort of offensive continuity. Finish, and build off of what we did against WACO in creating chances, then put them in the net.”

The Ravens have won 13 of the 14 all-time meetings between the two schools, including four straight by a combined 7-2 margin. These teams met earlier in 2023 with Hillcrest winning a wild 2-1 decision in Kalona on extra PKs. The winner of this contest advances to the substate semifinals against top seeded, No. 14 in Class 1A Pella Christian. Action between the Ravens and Hawks starts at 7:30p.m. tonight at Central Lee High School.