Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy
The Hillcrest Academy boys soccer team saw their season draw to a close Monday in the opening round of Class 1A district play, falling to Central Lee 2-1 in Donnellson. The Hawks were able to turn the tables on the Ravens on their home field after dropping a regular season contest in Kalona by the same score on extra penalty kicks earlier in the year. All of the matches’ scoring took place in the first half, with Central Lee finding the back of the net twice, midway through the frame as Dante Merschman beat the Raven defense for a pair of goals, both assisted by Landan Lowenberg. The Ravens got one back right before intermission when the sophomore duo of Jesse Blossom and Phoenix Anderson connected. Anderson had the goal and Blossom the help to cut the Hawk’s lead in half going to the break.
Hillcrest applied pressure in the second half and dominated play in all facets but the scoreboard, winning total shots 17-12, shots on goal 10-5 and corner kicks 8-2 but the equalizer remained elusive in the final 40 minutes. This week, Hillcrest head coach Marcus Miller joined the KCII PM Sports Page to talk about what he saw from the sidelines Monday. Miller broke it down, “In the second half we had our defenders putting more pressure on. We talked with our forwards about being more aggressive when we had some chances. We had some throw-ins where the ball would go all the way across the face of the goal, but there was no one there to tap it in. Phoenix Anderson played a really great game. Owen Scott had some good crosses. Micah Gerber put some good crosses in. Jesse Blossom got the assist on a nice cross in the first half. We were doing the right things, it just seemed like when we put a good shot on, their goalie made a good save. We were working hard to try to get that goal and it just didn’t come.”
With the loss, the Ravens end their season at 4-7 and say goodbye to seniors Grant Bender, Isaac Lybeck and Jace Rempel. Central Lee advances to meet top seed Pella Christian on the road Monday.